Parents must get involved in the education of their children - Wedad Sayibu

Madam Wedad Sayibu, Programmes Director for School For Life, has advocated parental involvement in the daily learning activities of their wards to enhance positive learning outcomes.

She said her outfit had enrolled a programme to build the capacities of parents and teachers by creating a common platform for effective parental guide to children's learning cause.

Madam Sayibu impressed on parents to give off their best to their studies at a two-day project design orientation workshop to launch parental learning for the Uninterrupted Schooling (PLUS) Project in Tamale.

The event was to solicit input and generate ideas from key stakeholders on what innovative strategies should be used for effective implementation through the involvement of parents in the PLUS.

The PLUS project, she said would be pursued in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and Non-Governmental Organisations, and said it was funded by the Commonwealth Learning, and implemented by School for Life in two districts; Kumbunug and Nanton in the Northern Region.

Madam Sayibu said about 3,600 parents, 7,315 students including; 4,459 boys and 2,856 girls in Upper Primary and Junior Secondary School levels in 40 communities would be benefiting from the three-year PLUS project which had already started this year.

She said the project would increase capacity of parents in marginalised communities to support and be involved in the learning of the children as well as increase community awareness on support for parental involvement to enhance communication collaboration among parents and teachers in school activities.

Mr Hanan Lassen Zakaria, Consultant for Commonwealth Learning (COL), urged parents and families to be involved in their children’s education to strengthen their school performance, noting that parents served as the first and primary controllers of children’s development.

Mr Zakaria said active parental involvement would help to address the school dropout phenomenon and encourage them to have higher aspirations and inculcate more positive attitudes towards school and homework.

He added that parent’s involvement in the education of children would enhance better grades and improve the child's academic performance and urged parents to volunteer to engage in some of the school's activities to build classrooms or serve on school decision-making bodies.

"It is the duty of parents to know how the school system works, what programmes and activities are available, how these decisions affect their child’s chances for future success, which courses are needed to prepare for future jobs and careers, what teachers expect in their courses for students to do well, and in what ways parents can get involved in decisions that affect how schools operate".