The Role of Parents in Developing Basic Literacy and Numeracy Skills in Children up to Class 3 under the NIPUN Bharat Mission

 The Role of Parents in Developing Basic Literacy and Numeracy Skills in Children up to Class 3 under the NIPUN Bharat Mission

Introduction: The NIPUN Bharat Mission aims to ensure that every child in the country attains foundational literacy and numeracy by the end of Class 3. While teachers play a central role in this mission, parents’ involvement is equally crucial. We must never forget that parents are children's first teachers, especially for those in the age group of 6 to 9 years, as they are more closely attached to their parents and other family members than anyone else. At this age, children are often heavily reliant on their mothers for meeting most of their needs. Hence, the role of parents/families in the "learning to read" process becomes as vital as the teacher’s role in the school setting.

Until now, the importance of parents in our education system has been discussed, but their involvement practically and effectively has been mostly symbolic. The guidelines developed for the implementation of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) stress the need to include parents and the community as key stakeholders in achieving the FLN mission’s objectives. This provides a positive opportunity for teachers to create opportunities for parents to actively participate in their children's education for a better future. Teachers can create ways and opportunities that align with the local context, which would allow children to experience a healthy educational environment both at school and at home.

Teachers, students, and parents form an educational chain that needs to be strengthened. This will improve communication between parents, children, and teachers, allowing children to feel safe and motivated to learn with the support of both their families and teachers. Teachers will also have better opportunities to understand the children and obtain important information about them. The partnership between teachers and parents is highly significant because when this partnership is strong, parents will be regularly updated about their children’s performance in school. There are many ways through which families/parents can directly contribute to improving children’s learning processes. Below are some ways in which teachers can ensure parents’ involvement in developing basic literacy and numeracy:

1. Awareness through School Education Committees: Teachers can use school education committees to raise awareness among parents about their role in their child’s education. These committees can provide a platform to engage parents and encourage them to actively participate in their children’s learning journey.

2. Homework to Ensure Parental Participation: Teachers can assign homework that involves parents in the learning process. For example, homework may include tasks such as identifying household items, types of clothes, counting family members, writing down names of relatives, or collecting information related to family relationships, stories, poems, plants, and flowers. Additionally, parents can engage children in daily activities like measuring, counting, and weighing items, such as measuring milk, counting coins, or weighing grains, which will help enhance their numeracy skills in practical situations. Parents can also take their children to the market and let them handle simple tasks like buying and selling items, thus involving them in real-life math experiences.

3. Organizing Educational Activities for Both Children and Parents: Organizing weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly educational activities in schools for the targeted children and their parents will strengthen the relationship between the school and the families. This will also increase the enthusiasm for learning for both children and parents.

4. Creating a WhatsApp Group for Parents: Teachers can create a WhatsApp group for parents of the targeted classes where they can share photos and videos of the educational and co-curricular activities the children are involved in at school. This will keep parents updated about their child’s learning progress and also serve as a communication tool.

5. Encouraging Parents to Share Activities at Home: Parents can also be encouraged to share photos and videos of the educational or co-curricular activities that their children do at home in the WhatsApp group. This will create a channel for better communication and involvement.

6. Encouraging Parents to Make Children Read Aloud at Home: Teachers can ask parents to encourage their children to read aloud at home. This simple practice helps improve reading skills and promotes language development.

7. Providing Activity Handbooks or Calendars for Parents: Teachers can develop activity handbooks or calendars with fun activities that parents can do with their children at home. These activities can be shared in the WhatsApp group so that children can perform them at home and then share their experiences with the class. This can also create a sense of achievement among the children.

8. Training Parents to Create Print-Rich Environments at Home: Teachers can train or inspire parents to enrich the home environment with print materials, such as sticking nameplates in rooms, labeling kitchen items, or discussing different types of toys, pictures, and objects. These practices help children develop their language skills and reading ability.

9. Promoting the Green Walk Concept: Teachers can train parents to engage in discussions with children about the local crops, plants, animals, and insects and their shapes, sizes, and colors. This type of exploration and conversation helps enhance children’s understanding of their environment and builds knowledge through interaction with nature.

10. Using Local Languages for Communication: Teachers can communicate with parents in the local language, making it easier for them to understand and engage in their child’s learning process. Using the local language makes the communication process more effective and strengthens the teacher-parent relationship.

11. Encouraging Active Parental Participation: Teachers can make parents feel like an important component of their child’s education. By acknowledging their involvement, parents will be more motivated to actively participate in the teaching process, making the learning journey more effective for their children.

12. Involving Mothers in Rural Areas: In rural areas, fathers often work in unorganized sectors and return home late in the evening, making them less involved in their children's education. In such cases, mothers often bear the primary responsibility. Therefore, forming mothers' groups to support each other and share responsibilities can prove to be highly beneficial.

Conclusion: Through the above-mentioned methods, parents/families can play a significant role in enhancing the learning outcomes of their children. I often discuss these points during parent-teacher meetings and encourage them to actively participate in their child’s education. Since most of the population in my area belongs to the SEDGs (Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Groups), I suggest that they:

• Encourage children to read aloud.
• Sit down with their children at a fixed time every morning and evening for reading practice.
• Ask children about what teachers have taught in school.
• Encourage writing practice.
• Maintain a peaceful and positive environment at home.
• Tell stories and poems in their native language and encourage children to tell them back.
• Send children to school on time and motivate them to do good work.

These activities can be as easy for illiterate parents as they are for literate ones. We just need to make them realize that even small steps can significantly contribute to their children’s education.

References:

• Teacher’s Handbook for FLN developed in Bihar.

Priyanka Kumari, Teacher
Middle School Malhatol, Parihar, Sitamarhi
Email: pkjha2209@gmail.com