KGBS: Guidelines needed for teacher-parent communication
SIBU: Sarawak Bumiputera Teachers Union ( KGBS) has called for proper guidelines to be formulated for teachers to obtain the contact numbers of students’ parents for communication purposes.
AccordingtoitspresidentAhmad Malie, the guidelines can perhaps confine the communication hours between both parties to daytime, starting from 7am till 5pm.
He was commenting on the suggestion by Education, Science and Technological Research Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin for teachers to build a solid relationship with parents to enable their children to reap academic and social benefits.
“After 5pm, there should be no more dealing (between parents and teachers). If there are no guidelines such as this, there is a possibility it may cause interruption to both parties especially in the evening if there is no control.
“Such a situation will definitely give rise to problems eventually. That is why for a start, the implementation must come with guidelines or rules,” he told The Borneo Post yesterday.
Noting the positive impact, he described this as a good effort between teachers and parents to monitor the discipline of their children as well as their academic performance, adding that this suggestion be further fine-tuned.
Manyin had said this would enable teachers to communicate with parents effectively when problems involving students arise and suggested that the Education Department in Sarawak issue a circular to all schools, instructing that every teacher must know the mobile number of their students’ parents so that teachers and parents could communicate better when it concerns their children’s problem in school.
Manyin had also mentioned that during their official visit to Finland in May last year, they were told that every teacher has the mobile number of their students’ parents and the teachers and parents over there could communicate at any time concerning the students’ performance.
To this, Ahmad said: “KGBS welcomes and supports Dato Sri Michael Manyin’s call for relationship between teachers and parents be further strengthened through the use of mobile phone.
“To KGBS, this is a good effort between teachers and parents to monitor the discipline of their children as well as their academic performance.”
He noted in actual fact, the move to strengthen relationship between teachers and parents through mobile phone has been practised in countries that are advanced in terms of education – among them Finland, Estonia, Japan and others.
“Given that this situation can help to strengthen the discipline and academic performance of students, KGBS is of the view that it is not wrong if we emulate this model by customising it to the needs of our country,” Ahmad said.