SIX out of every 10 primary school students do not have adequate parental support in their bid to get the most out of their educational experience at that level.

This is according to a recent assessment conducted by socio-economic analyst Dawn Sewell Lawson in conjunction with the Ministry of Education.

The sample was comprised of 300 students from primary schools which feed into the six high schools under the Centres of Excellence programme of the Mutual Building Societies Foundation (MBSF).

The schools are McGrath High, Mile Gully High, Godfrey Stewart High, Green Pond High, Porus High, and Seaforth High.

Only 43 per cent of the 300 students sampled were classified as having adequate parental support, which was measured using four indicators. Those indicators include parental attendance at parent-teacher association (PTA) meetings; attendance at other meetings; parents initiating meetings with teachers to discuss their child’s performance; and parent’s accessibility by telephone.

The assessment also revealed that approximately 50 per cent of parents have never attended PTA meetings while 65 per cent have never initiated nor met with a teacher in regard to their child.

At the same time, the assessment revealed that in many instances, teachers did not know the level of parental involvement.

“This is a clear indication that schools are not putting enough emphasis on parental involvement in school-based activities,” Sewell Lawson said.

However, she was quick to add that it was not an indictment on either parents or educators, but an indication of the need for the situation to be aired and addressed.

“The reluctance of parents to participate in school-based activities may be due, in part, to the level of competence they feel in manoeuvring the school environment,” she opined. “Schools, therefore, need to make the climate more welcoming and accommodating to parents, so that they will feel comfortable to initiate meetings and attend PTA.”

As a result, the MBSF is encouraging the high schools under the Centre of Excellence programme to develop more robust strategies to strengthen parental school support for students.

“We are not seeing the support of parents in many crucial areas and this is not necessarily because they don’t want to be involved. But there seems to be factors within the schools that do not consistently encourage their involvement,” said Dr Renee Rattray, programme manager for MBSF.

As such, she said that in line with its mandate, the Centres of Excellence programme is working closely with each school to develop positive school/home partnerships and parenting programmes.

Sewell Lawson said this was especially important since the data had also indicated that students with parental support perform better than other students. Sixty-two per cent of students who had supportive parents scored in the top half of their class compared to only 38 per cent of students without supportive parents.

“We need to partner with parents and communities to improve our schools. Their support is critical to developing our institutions into Centres of Excellence,” she said.

To date, all schools in the Centres of Excellence programme have developed parenting programmes with the assistance of guidance counsellors. These programme are being implemented during the current school year.