'Be active in Samudayadatta shale'
BANGALORE: Samudayadatta Shale, the yearly exercise of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) to involve parents in the affairs of the school, will be held on April 4 for primary schools and on April 10 for high schools. However, poor functioning of the programme in urban areas has got the officials worried.
The best that can be done, officials say, is to request urban parents to show more interest. Commissioner for Public Instruction Tushar Girinath told The New Indian Express that there exists a certain degree of ignorance on the part of parents in urban locales, especially Bangalore.
“We find that literate parents are working professionals, who do not want to waste time as they already know the performance of their wards. On the other hands, the lesser literate parents cannot afford to lose their daily wages by spending an entire day in the schools. This phenomenon is less in rural areas,” he said.
“The Samudayadatta Shale programme in rural areas consists of cultural performances by students, proving to be an effective method to keep parents in the school premises. The urban mindset, however, is we are too busy,” said Girinath.
He added that most of the children studying in schools were first generation school-goers, resulting in parents not fully understanding the processes involved.
“Most parents are unaware of whether the marks secured by their wards are good or bad. If the ward has secured 35 per cent, parents question the teachers without really understanding the process of learning involved,” said Girinath.
Girinath urged parents to show more interest and involvement beyond collecting marks cards of the children.
“We understand that parents cannot spend an entire day in schools. Parents are free to walk in at their convenience. We used to have phone-in system earlier. We cannot coerce parents to come. We can only inform them,” he said.
According to 2010-11 analytical report of the DPI, there are 100.29 lakh children in 1-10 standards in the state.
Of this total, 74.25 lakh children are in 1-7 standards, with only 26.04 lakh children enrolled in 8th, 9th and 10th standards of the high school section.
With a significant drop in enrolment in high schools, the Samudayadatta Shale initiative becomes crucial to urge parents to send their children to schools every year.