Parents of children in public schools not helping - Priest

Ho, July 8, GNA - The Reverend Father Joseph Hayibor, Parish Priest of the Anglican Church in Ho, has deplored the lukewarm attitude of parents to activities of public schools their children attend.

He said while parents of pupils in private schools supported their schools' authorities to ensure good academic performance, many parents of pupils in public schools showed very little or no concern at all.

The Rev. Father Hayibor was speaking at the Anglican Basic School Complex Kindergarten Day Celebration in Ho on Thursday. Only 12 out of 50 parents expected attended the meeting.

He said the irony was that whereas parents with children in private schools were helping those schools to thrive, their counterparts in public institutions tended to lose sight of their stakes in the success of such schools.

Mr Boniface Donkor Kwamlah, Head of the Anglican Junior High School (JHS), observed that for many parents the schools were just dumping grounds for their children.

He expressed indignation over the laxity in some homes where children could stay up watching television late into the night and come to school to sleep.

Mr Kwamlah was unhappy that some parents would not feed their children before dispatching them to school and would hardly track their performance.

Madam Mary Horlu, Head Instructor of the Kindergarten, said the unit which started in 1988 with four kids from the private residence of the Anglican Bishop, was in dire need of infrastructure refurbishment.

She appealed for help to paint the school, renovate some parts of the building as well as mend its roofs that currently leaked.

Madam Jane Hodasi, a Past Headmistress recounted how the Anglican School complex was propped up from a poor performance status over the years to its current state of a sought-after basic school in the Ho Municipality.

Madam Patience Amekogbe asked the authorities of the Kindergarten to devise strategies to get parents involved in their activities.