The schools or the classrooms are the virtual second home of pupils while the teachers are considered their second parents. Like how they treat their children in their homes, teachers should also instinctively their pupils as their own children. In the home, parents have a hard time instilling discipline among their children and the same is true with teachers who have to deal with the different behaviors and attitudes of their pupils while managing order in the classroom and engaging their interest on their daily lessons.
Every start of the school year, parents of pupils elect their respective homeroom Parents-Teachers-Community Association (PTCA) officers and subsequently the grade or year level PTCA officers and eventually the general PTCA officers. The primary purpose of having PTCA officers at all levels is to ensure the close working relationship between the parents, teachers and the community for the establishment of a conducive learning environment for the children in the different public and private institutions.
Teachers really need the able assistance of their fellow teachers, the parents and the community in formulating acceptable reasonable means and ways of instilling discipline in the children under their care. Sometimes there are unavoidable circumstances that teachers tend to overdo to discipline children which subject them to complaints, and if found guilty, they are even imposed administrative penalties aside from being criminality charged. We have to accept that times have drastically changed where acceptable penalties imposed against school learners in before are no longer acceptable in present times that is why there is a need for a sustained engagement of the parents and the community in the way teachers impose disciplinary actions on their pupils.
Further, the engagement with PTCA will create a solid partnership among the stakeholders for the improvement of the school through the various projects decided, planned and implemented through consultations. Teachers are not robots who can do things simultaneously, thus they have to have partners in responsible parents and the community leaders so that their schools will be a worthy learning institution.
We need dedicated, responsible and understanding parents to help us effectively and efficiently discharge our duties and responsibilities in teaching our school learners and molding them to become productive citizens of the community. We experienced how to be disciplined by our former teachers but we could not apply the same methods today, thus, we certainly need guidance from everyone in the know so that we will not be subjected to complaints for us to teach the younger generations the way to a productive life.
By Naude G. Gallisen
