Parents hail meet with teachers

On Saturday, the second mega parent-teacher meet (PTM) for Delhi government schools received an enthusiastic response with parents flocking to schools to get feedbacks on their wards’ performance.

Many parents like Savitri Singh, who could not attend the first-ever PTM in July, used the opportunity to engage with the teachers. “It was a great experience for me. The teachers were courteous and they shared with me all the details regarding my daughter’s activities in her classes and on the sports ground,” Ms Singh said.

Her daughter Renu is enrolled in Green Park’s Gargi Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya.

Renu said she was happy that her mother got a chance to meet her teachers. “My mother was very happy to hear good things about me from my teachers. It is only for our benefit that teachers and parents discuss about our strengths and weaknesses. Now my parents will know what I am good at and where I need to improve,” she said.

For the teachers, the mood inside the school was festive.

“This kind of a parent-teacher meeting is different from the regular PTMs. Seeing so many parents coming with their children felt as if we were celebrating some kind of festival. Each parent had so many questions to ask about their ward,” Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya teacher Inderjeet Pal said.

“Such PTMs are an encouragement for both teachers and the parents. We even told them about the steps taken by the government to improve the facilities in schools. It was visible on their faces how much satisfied and happy they were to interact with us. The parents were able to understand their children’s requirements,” Mahima, another teacher at the school, said. For morning shift schools, the PTM was held between 8 am and 1 pm and for evening shift schools, it was held between 2 pm and 7 pm. Kartar Bhatti, an e-rickshaw driver, said, “I realised that we need to spare our daughter from some of the household chores so she can focus more on studies. Her mother works as a helper at a shop so she (daughter) has to help us at home.”

The teachers also briefed the parents about the no-detention policy.

“The first PTM had got good response and we were getting repetitive queries from parents and even teachers about when will the next PTM be held. Parents and teachers need to have an engagement to ensure better nurturing of children,” deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said. “We will plan a similar exercise every three to four months to ensure that the engagement continues,” he said. Mr Sisodia, who is also the education minister, had visited some schools in his constituency to meet parents and oversee the conduct of the PTM.

PWD minister Satyendra Jain and labour minister Gopal Rai also visited many schools and interacted with parents and children.

In July, a 12-year-old girl had committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan after returning from a PTM. The girl, a student of Class VII, had accompanied her mother to the government senior secondary school to attend the PTM. At the meeting, teachers told her mother about her weakness in studies and she was scolded by her mother.