Ludhiana: Government schools across Punjab, including Ludhiana, on Saturday organised parents’ workshop 2.0 regarding the upcoming examination preparation and under the theme ‘exam preparation a joint responsibility’. In this workshop, role of parents, environment at home and self confidence for the upcoming exams was talked about. Also, the role of parents in admission process and stopping the drug usage in early years was also discussed.During the parents’ workshop 2.0, it was decided that the daily academic schedule will be followed, but the situation in many government schools during the workshop turned out to be different than expected and as planned by the authorities concerned. The schedule for the parents workshop 2.0 started in the morning hours and it continued till 2:30pm. However, along with this, the schools had their daily academic schedule side by side that turned out to be a challenge for the teachers as they found it difficult to manage both schedules at the same time. “I was teaching in the class, but then I got to know that parents are waiting to attend the workshop so I had to leave my class for a while and another teacher had to adjust the period so that I could meet the parents who had come to the school. It was a bit difficult to manage both things at the same time,” said a government school teacher on condition of anonymity.“The academic schedule was affected somehow as the students were in classrooms and some parents were also there at the same time. We had to manage both tasks, as exams are approaching, we need to address the concerns of the students regarding this as well,” she added.The challenges were not just for the teachers, but it was also a matter of concern for many parents as well who work jobs as they cannot leave their jobs during working hours, but had to do so for their children and notifications received by the school authorities.Talking to the TOI, one of the parent said, “I work as a sweeper at a hospital, and my daughter is studying at the government school. I received a notification from the school last night and had to reach the school in the afternoon. It was very difficult for me to come during my working hours.”Another parent, while expressing his concern, said, “Some of these things were discussed in the previous mega PTM held recently. I dropped my son to the school in the morning and now I have to come again to attend the parents’ workshop. I work as a labour and had to attend the workshop during my lunch break as the schools said it is important.” The challenges for the teachers and parents were there for the day. Moreover, the schools have been directed in the previous notification that 100% participation should be ensured by the parents and if all parents are not attended and managed on Feb 7, then the schools will reschedule another parents’ workshop on Feb 9. Many parents and teachers also said that this was time for exams preparation and practical exams were also going on, so the focus should be on studies and preparation only and the workshops could have been rescheduled after final exams.
