Parents throng schools to get feedback about their wards

Avneet Kaur

Jalandhar, December 13

Even rain failed to dampen the enthusiasm of parents who came in a large number to listen to the feedback about their wards’ performance at parent-teacher meetings (PTMS), organised by the State Education Department, across all government schools in the district today.

From achievements to good handwriting to proper usage of grammar to confidence in speaking and writing, parents were updated about various strengths of their wards during the meetings. Besides, students who performed well in academics or extracurricular activities were honoured by the school and medals and certificates were handed over to them by their parents.

As parents queued up at government schools despite continuous rain and waited for their turn to meet teachers, the District Education Officer, Deputy District Education Officer and other officials too visited several schools to see if everything was in order and how were parents responding to the initiative.

“The PTMs were organised at all government schools of the district. Parents of around 1.55 lakh students from 438 upper primary and 940 primary schools were invited to attend the meeting. This is a new experiment and parents were excited about it that they are being involved in the schooling of their children. This is another step towards bringing quality in education being imparted at government schools on a par with private schools,” said District DEO (Secondary) Harinder Pal Singh.

He said the aim of the meetings was to develop a positive dialogue between teachers and parents.

“We especially told the teachers to focus more on students’ strength and try to motivate them in front of their parents, instead of pointing out their shortcomings,” he said. He said the schools were planning to hold such meetings on a monthly basis and a mega PTM would be conducted every six months or once a year.

“Parents should be welcomed in schools and they should be given proper feedback about their children’s performance,” the DEO said.

District mentor English Chander Shekhar said it was a wonderful experience to interact with parents and share student’s achievements. “Parents were happy to see the development in government schools, he said

They were informed about the e-content, project ‘Udhaan’ and other activities being initiated under the Parho Punjab Parhao Punjab Project,” he said.

When asked about the experience of attending the parent-teacher meeting, Kulwinder Singh, a parent who was spotted at Government Senior Secondary School, Ladowali, said it was for the first time he visited the school of his son.

“I was not sure to attend the meeting as it was raining and quite cold outside, but then my wife forced me to accompany her to the school,” he said.

I was surprised to see the changes brought in government schools. The building and infrastructure was well maintained. Another best thing Ifound was, I saw my son communicating in English with his teacher,” he said.

Kulwinder added that parents must attend such meetings to motivate their children.