Promoting quality pre-tertiary education: Role of active parent associations
Parents play a vital role in the education of their children especially involving them in the activities and programmes of the school because they are the first and most important teachers.
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They are the key factors in the success of their children. Parents have the duty to educate their children in their homes and in schools as well. Therefore, there is a need for a better and closer relationship among parents, families and community to have an active school-community education for the children.
On its own, the school cannot exist alone. The school needs the help of the government in terms of funding. The challenges of delivering quality education are becoming heavier.
So, much is required from the school: improvement of facilities, qualifications of teachers, stronger community linkages, strengthened and enriched quality of instruction and many more are required from the school administrators, teachers and the non-teaching personnel.
It is for the above reasons that each school needs an active parents association (PA).
Relevance of PA
The PA plays an effective role in the present scenario of school education system. It is an important group to spread discipline, knowledge and cooperation among the students, parents and teachers at the grass-roots level.
The aim of the PA is to contribute to the development and improvement of all aspects of school life such as academic, moral values, sports, culture, extra-curricular activities, equipment and organisation.
Parents are crucial agents of socialisation in the society. This understanding is grounded in the observation that parents train the child on the roles of behaviour and thus, set the child’s basic personality pattern from early childhood to adolescence.
The PA can assess the school rules and values to make sure they are clearly stated and can be understood by the students. They also ensure all students are treated fairly and without personal preferences or prejudice. Students could be encouraged by PA to ask questions and can be counselled when they have problems or when they make mistakes.
Effectiveness of PA Activities
Parents Association promotes the welfare of children and youth not only in schools but also at home, in the community and places of worship. The PA is also charged with the responsibility of raising the standards of life for young people and to secure adequate laws for their care and protection.
This will bring into closer relation the home and the school so that parents and teachers may cooperate intelligently in the education of students. Such united efforts will secure the highest advantages in physical, mental, social and spiritual education for the students.
The PA involvement in schools produces measurable gains in student achievement. Parental involvement through PA, and with the school, is vital and can produce greater achievements and rewards to all concerned.
Research has revealed that the parent body of any school has a rich fund of skills and expertise, knowledge and experience that go beyond the capacities of their teachers. This resource should be harnessed to support and improve the education of the young people holistically. However, many schools do not involve parents in many of their activities citing lack of knowledge and skill in school affairs.
Challenges faced by PA
The increasing number of enrolment in public schools has made it difficult for PA to maintain discipline in schools. This expansion and enrolment with fewer resources to address the situation has made the management and maintenance of schools very complex.
This has an implication to the maintenance of discipline by PA since they have to deal with an increased number of discipline related cases. This overwhelms the PA thus making it difficult to achieve the objective of maintaining discipline in schools.
Roles of PA
There are many things that should be done to enhance parental involvement in their children’s schools at the pre-tertiary level, but the success of any programme will depend on the support and willingness of the head teacher to incorporate parents in his/her school activities.
Some school heads have an open communication system with parents, in which parents are encouraged to give their ideas, opinions and suggestions to school matters. The heads of school are the key contributors to helping parents and other educators understand each other and work together to achieve their schools’ objectives.
The school must convince parents that they are meeting their objectives by maintaining good discipline and high academic standard in order to enjoy more support from them.
Recommendations
Schools should ensure that PA is able to perform all activities especially those that directly contribute to discipline in schools such as involving them in their children’s affairs and meetings.
The school heads should involve PA when drafting or changing rules and regulations for the school. This can be done at the beginning of the year or whenever the standard rules are being changed or improved.
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PA representatives should be invited during orientation of new students and be given a chance to address them. Head teachers and class teachers should cooperate and work with the community in order to know about students who misbehave outside school.
Schools should encourage parents through PA to be fully involved in the discipline of students by including them in the disciplinary committees and by involving them in counselling services.
The writer is a PhD candidate, University of Ghana
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