Home environment is crucial in learning: Principal Rana

A kid’s education starts from home. Parents are their first teachers and they play a key role in shaping up their character. Balanced education at home and school positively impacts a   student’s learning outcome. With good support from home, students achieve better grades at school and grow up with a higher self-esteem, reveals a growing body of research. With the COVID-19 pandemic largely cutting off a student’s physical interaction with peers and teachers, parents have become their sole point of physical contact. In this interview, Ms. Manju Rana, principal of Seth Anandram Jaipuria School, talks about the importance of communication between parents and their children in the learning process and outcome. 

What role do parents play in a child’s learning? 
It is very important for us to understand that school and home environment are crucial to fostering a motivation to learn. Children are not used to studying in isolation. Whether it is a student’s relationship with their teachers, parents or peers, all of them play a crucial role in the student’s psychological well-being. If this is taken care of, learning will automatically flourish. During the early education years, parental involvement can do wonders for kids. They need to be involved in all aspects of the growth of their children, especially in the current scenario, where schools have closed and classrooms have reached the living room. Parent role-reversal has also happened so it is important that parents engage in co-curricular activities and support their child’s informal learning. To monitor their child’s progress, to ensure they are participating actively in school, parents’ engagement at home plays a huge role. 

Why is communication important in the learning process? 
It is important that parents keep an open line of communication with their children and interact constantly in order to build an emotional language and provide a safe and conducive environment for learning. Communication at all levels is extremely important. Praise, encouragement and support your children’s achievements to build the confidence in children that hey require for doing well in any field. 

How are schools supporting parent-teacher collaboration? 
Parents should stay connected with their children’s teachers and establish a mutually supportive dynamic. Schools are also facilitating informal interactions between parents and educators through parent-teacher meetings. These days, schools are also organising a lot of community programmes. Here also, the involvement of parents is necessary to encourage learning. These days, parents are highly engaged in school initiatives along with the educators and it is this collaborative effort of all the stakeholders is what is needed to transform the education system and help us re-imagine learning.