TWO teenaged students from inner-city com-munities yesterday encouraged more than 100 parents who gathered at the Terra Nova Hotel for a parenting workshop hosted by the Ministry of Education’s Inner-city Schools Improvement Programme to get involved in the lives of their children.

The students, Linace Gordon and Andre Henry, both of Windsor Heights in the troubled Central Village area, noted that it was the involvement and encouragement of their parents that fostered their close relationship and kept them out of trouble.

“Parenting is more than the buying of uniforms and school books. It is more than cursing and beating. It is a calling, it is a mandate. It is guiding, leading by example,” said Linace who is in her second year of History Education studies at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

In recounting tales from her childhood, the teen said her own mother – a domestic helper – was involved in her life to the point that she would wake her from sleep when she got home at night to ensure that her homework had been completed.

Andre, who grew up in the Wareika Hill area of Rockfort in St Andrew, said his mother who was a labourer on construction sites, could not read but “was always trying” and always ensured that he made it to school.

This served as his motivation to excel, he said, while sharing an incident in which he didn’t want to sit A-Level Physics because he found it difficult, but when his mother asked him to do it for her, he persevered. Of the four subjects he sat at A-Level, Andre’s highest grade was for Physics.

“Be involved, be part of your child’s life,” the second-year Computer Science & Electronics major urged.

The students were addressing the importance of parental guidance in the lives of children at the parents’ workshop held under the theme: “Parents, today you guide, tomorrow they lead”.

According to president of the group, Margaret Brissett-Bolt, the programme, which was the brainchild of Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson, seeks to raise the standard of student performance, improve the quality of education offered by the schools, encourage the involvement of parents in the day-to-day running of the schools and improve the physical infrastructure of the premises.

With a total of 23 primary and secondary schools from volatile inner-city areas including Hannah Town, Spanish Town, Rae Town and parts of Montego Bay enlisted, the programme, which was launched a little over two years ago, has been reaping success.

“It’s going very well,” reported Brissett-Bolt. “We have seen the growth on the ground, we have seen the buildings look much better, student performance has increased, but parental involvement is lacking. There is interaction and networking among the schools and that’s pretty good.”

The programme has been attracting much attention and the ministry is considering adding more schools but would have to first graduate those who have reached a satisfactory level of improvement.

“There are some schools that have moved more than others, they have improved so much that we’re saying [they] can graduate…because in terms of funding, it’s better to graduate some then bring others on board than keeping those who are doing well,” she told the Observer.

Consultant psychiatrist at the University of the West Indies Dr Wendel Abel, who was the guest speaker at the function, encouraged parents to shower their children with affection and rely less on beating them.

“One of our problems in Jamaica is that we don’t love to show emotions [but] we have to be careful how we deal with our children. What we need is more loving, more praising,” he commented.

He recommended hugging, kissing, saying “I love you”, reasoning together, listening to children when they have something to say and criticising the behaviour, not the child.

The psychiatrist also advised parents to seek professional help if they find that they cannot deal properly with behavioural problems in their children. The parenting workshop coincided with Parenting Month, Youth Month and Community Development Month.