KwaMashu primary school highlights need for parental support in education
Zamokuhle Primary School is sounding the alarm over declining parental involvement, linking it to rising absenteeism and dropouts among students.
Image: File
A KwaMashu primary school has sounded the alarm over the lack of parental involvement in their children's education, warning that the trend is contributing to absenteeism, dropouts, and a lack of support for pupils.
Zamokuhle Primary School's deputy principal, B.S. Hlophe, stated that the school struggles to engage parents regarding learners’ academic progress.
“Parents are called to attend to learners’ issues, to collect learners’ reports or results, but parents are not coming. Out of 670 parents, only 200 will come,” he said.
He added that the absence of parents in their children’s education is having visible consequences including absenteeism without reason and dropouts.
According to the school, only about 40% of parents attend meetings, despite various attempts to reach out.
“We tried visiting community meetings, war rooms, churches, and sending posters to influence parents to attend,” Hlophe said.
The School Governing Body has also stepped in, but turnout remains a challenge. “Calling meetings and referrals from community meetings have not been enough to draw consistent participation,” he said.
In a bid to encourage stronger ties between parents and the school, Zamokuhle High will host a sports day on Thursday (September 25) this week.
He said appeals on local community media have assisted.
“We have moved from 100 to 200 parents’ involvement with (assistance from) Vibe FM,” Hlophe said.
Teachers, however, continue to bear the brunt of parents’ absence. “It is demoralising to teachers because some learners need professional assistance or to be referred to other special needs institutions,” Hlophe said.
He said the school wants parents to see themselves as central partners in education, not just bystanders. “We want to work hand in hand to assist and better the future of our learners, to be involved in shaping our learners’ education from primary, high school to tertiary,” he said.
The KwaZulu-Natal Parents Association echoed these concerns, stressing that learners thrive when parents take an active interest in their schooling.
Association chairperson Vee Gani said that without supervision and support, pupils often lose focus. “Without the support of parents or parents’ supervision, learners tend to be distracted. They tend to succumb to peer pressure, and learners tend to distance themselves from school,” he said.
He added that the most successful learners almost always have involved parents. “Successful learners always have a parent who supports them and there is involvement from their parents. Parents who check their homework, who ask about how school is going, how they are doing, and what subjects they need help with,” Gani said.
But too often, parents leave it all to teachers. “Parents very seldom engage with teachers to ask what they can do to improve the lives of children. Most parents leave all to the teachers,” he said.
He stressed that education requires a partnership. “In a schooling system, there is the learner, parent, and the school. And one cannot function or exist without the other. If any one of them does not contribute, the child will be the one to suffer. If parents are involved, children become more responsible,” he said.