4. Community and Family Engagement
For more holistic learning and upbringing of children, parental and community participation is
necessary. Children spend more time with their families and local community than at school, so
schools need to engage with parents and communities to ensure a conducive learning environment
for them beyond school hours.
Parents and family must be co-partners with the school in their children’s learning and development. Communication with parents needs to be frequent and ongoing, with parents being treated as indispensable partners in the process of the child’s education. The local community is defined as parents, family, residents of the neighbourhood, youth groups, community leaders, and local governance institutions. The community must be involved in and support the school in as many ways as possible.
Apart from benefits at the level of individual students, the collaboration of school, family, and community results in the strengthening of not only schools but other institutions as well. It helps build local oversight and accountability in the education system.
Section 4.1 - Enabling the Involvement of Parents and Families and Community
4.1.1 Inviting Parents/Families and Community to School
Parents and families must be invited to school functions and celebrations. Schools must find ways to engage them actively in such events as opposed to being mere audience/spectators. Therefore, the design of such functions and celebrations should aim for the active engagement of parents. Parents or families could also be asked to visit the school on working days to observe regular school functioning. They can, without disrupting the learning process of students, join the morning assembly and later spend some time in the classes. During intervals, they can interact with students and Teachers. This will give them first-hand experience of what goes on in the school on a normal day.
The school’s relationship should not be limited to the current group of parents and families. The larger community from where students come to school should also be involved systematically in school processes to whatever extent possible. For example, they could help ensure enrolment and regular attendance, mobilise funds for infrastructure and learning materials, organise ingredients for more nutritious meals locally, and so on. One simple way to reach out to them is to invite them to events, functions, and celebrations where it is easier to accommodate larger groups. Exhibitions of work by students, Bal Melas, book fairs, film festivals, health camps, cleanliness drives, and campaigning for other social awareness causes are opportunities to engage with the larger community. If the school publishes any newsletter or magazine, it can also be distributed to a larger audience. Community-based events and services by student clubs (e.g., sports clubs, art and culture clubs, health and wellness clubs) can be organised. Schools should have an active alumni group; with their help, building and sustaining this connection would be easier.
The unutilised capacity of school infrastructure could be used to promote social, intellectual, and volunteer activities for the community to promote social cohesion during non-teaching / schooling hours. This will help schools to function as a platform to bring the community together (e.g., Samajik Chetna Kendras).
4.1.2 Orientation Meetings
At the very beginning, when parents and families come for admission of their children, an orientation on what the school stands for, its teaching-learning processes, and expectations from parents and families is necessary. This could be done in several forms — one-to-one meetings where individual queries can be taken up; meeting with a group of parents where a presentation on the school can be given; and sharing a written document about what parents should know. A tour of the school premises led by students would be a more creative and effective way of orienting parents and families. By interacting with students, they would get a good feel of what they are learning in the school.
When members from the larger community visit school, a short session, a tour, or an exhibition about school can be organised to orient them on various aspects of school functioning.
4.1.3 Parent Teachers Meetings
Parents and families must be treated as indispensable partners in the process, not as people who are availing of a service or people who need to be given only progress reports to. This must be reflected in the school’s culture, in the way it welcomes and engages with parents and families, the community, and other visitors. Irrespective of the parental and familial backgrounds, attitudes, and dispositions, schools need to make them comfortable. There should be clear communication with parents and families on when they can visit schools. They should be properly welcomed and attended to.
While Parent-Teacher Meetings (PTMs) are a forum through which larger parent bodies engage with and contributes to school processes, communication with parents and families need to be frequent and ongoing.
Parents and families need regular updates on how their children are progressing in various learning domains, like in different subjects and socio-emotional aspects. At the same time, Teachers also need to know the home and community context of students to provide the requisite support at school. This enables dialogue between parents and families and Teachers on the kind of support students need at home. They could be invited to school regularly for discussions about their child’s learning, and also be given updates by the Teacher conducting home visits. Holding meetings at regular intervals is necessary to facilitate mutual sharing, trust building, and ownership. They may also solicit meetings with Teachers as and when required.
These meetings should not primarily be about telling parents and families about the issues and challenges being faced with their children, but about what their children are learning, and the details of efforts being made by the school. Maintaining an updated student progress portfolio will be a huge help in this sharing, and parents and families will be happy to see how the school is keeping a proper record of student progress. On PTM days, schools could organise fun activities that parents and families could participate in. This will help build camaraderie between them and Teachers.
Teachers should also visit parents and families periodically, as knowing the home environment and the larger socio-cultural context of students is a prerequisite for providing more customised support to students.
4.1.4 Building Perspectives among Parents and Families and Community
One important aspect of the school’s dialogue with parents and families and the community would be around those aspects of education and school processes where the school needs to build their understanding and perspective. These could be issues such as attendance, on establishing relationships based on love and care rather than fear and punishment, home assignment, tutorial support, the inclusion of local language and context in the teaching process, health and hygiene issues, and behavioural norms where discussions with parents and families will help this partnership. For example, in early grades, a shared understanding of the importance of child development in the early years, different domains of development and learning, the need for stimulation and engagement in a conducive and safe home environment, and the importance of basic health and nutrition will go a long way in ensuring students all-round development. Similarly, when students reach adolescence, conversations with parents and families about the changes that occur at this age are necessary. The kind of understanding and approach required for engaging with adolescent children would be integral to this dialogue.
A critical area of communication between schools and parents and families is about expected behavioural norms and consequences. Learning has to be joyful on the whole and it requires seriousness, perseverance, and a lot of hard work. In a school, all this is achieved through teamwork, so students must learn to be socially sensitive and responsible. These expectations must be communicated to and discussed with students and parents and families at the time of admission and at regular intervals. These behavioural expectations should largely be defined in positive terms, and if there is a student diary, then school rules should also find space there. They should also be displayed on the general notice board of the school. The consequences of not abiding by the rules should also be clear and well communicated.
4.1.5 Parents and Families and the Community as Resource Persons
Some parents and families, and members of the community could also be seen as important resource persons who through a well thought-out plan, can also contribute academically. Bagless Day is one such window where such engagement can be planned. Identified individuals/ volunteers can help with organising and supervising small local field trips; share their knowledge and experiences when particular topics are being studied (e.g., growing plants and controlling for pests, how to perform first aid for basic injuries, cooking a simple healthy meal, demonstrating basic woodwork, talking about animals or vehicles); help the Teacher align aspects of school practices to the local context (e.g., local festivals, local food, local art forms); and be part of the classroom on designated days as an observer or co-teacher. They could also provide learning opportunities to students through visits to their place of work. Parents and families and community workers could also support Teachers in teaching and learning in areas such as Art, Physical Education and Well-being, and Vocational Education, as per their expertise and the requirements of the school. Schools need to build a database of such parents and community members.
Efforts must be made to involve the community and alumni in volunteer efforts for addressing learning gaps by providing tutoring help. Databases of literate and willing individuals (retired scientists/government/semi government employees, alumni, and educators) will help achieve this purpose.
Section 4.2 - School Management Committees
There was a time in the past when schools were established, owned, and run by the village and local communities. But modern schools are either run by the State or certain societies and trusts. In this scenario, the onus of initiating and sustaining the participation of parents and families and the community lies with the school staff and its governing bodies. School Management Committees (SMCs) are the official mechanism through which community participation is ensured. Mothers, school alumni, local people with expertise in relevant areas of school functioning, and those with exemplary public spirit should be included as SMC members. This will substantially increase the engagement of the SMC with the school.
In public schools having SMCs, School Development Plans (SDPs) are prepared by this committee. It is an important document that manifests the priorities of the school in alignment with the vision of the school as well as its current status. The plan should have clear short-term and long-term goals and steps to move in that direction. The plan must also have mechanisms to review the progress of work done in the school.
SMC meetings should be held regularly to review school progress and to take necessary steps wherever required. These meetings can also be used to orient committee members on various educational matters so that they also grow in their understanding of the educational process and can play a more active and supportive role in ensuring all enabling supports for student learning. The school-community partnership has great potential for ensuring better learning for students and community development. The relationship should not be limited to only sharing updates on student progress, resource mobilisation, or participation as an audience in school functions.
Schools need to build quality relationships with parents and families and the community for enabling the learning process at the school and fulfil the larger role a school is expected to play in the life of the community they serve. A school necessarily brings different community members together for the education of their children and also has the potential for achieving greater social cohesion among these members through its educational endeavour.