Education Matters: What Parents Can Do to Enhance Their Child’s Learning in School

Most Filipino parents would agree that the best legacy they can give to their children is education. No matter how limited their resources are, sending their children to school tops the list of priorities. Education is seen as the means that will provide a better future – an investment worth pursuing.

But what can parents do to support their child’s education? Or does it end with being able to send them to school? We, in the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation Inc (RAFI), believes that parents can contribute more to enhance their child’s learning.

It is an observable fact, and perhaps backed by your own childhood experiences too, that when parents are very supportive of their children’s education (not only in the financial aspect), there is greater chance of success. Why? Because when parents are actively involved in their children’s education, they are sending the message to their children that education is indeed important for they themselves are willing to share their time, energy, and resources for it.

Here are three simple yet helpful ways on how you as a parent can enhance your child’s learning:

Monitor child’s activities/assignments/progress daily.  This can be as simple as asking children what they did for the day. This not only enables parents to know what is going on in school, it also strengthens their communication with their children. Parents showing interest will boost a child’s confidence and will eventually motivate him/her to do something in school worth telling, like remembering an interesting topic in school.

Attend Parent-Teacher Association activities. This is an opportunity for parents to meet other parents, as well as the teachers, and establish a collaborative relationship with them. Most children of parents who are actively involved in school are more confident and happy students because they feel their parent’s support. It lessens behavioral problems too as the open communication between the parent and the teacher is an essential tool for monitoring and implementing consistent discipline.

Make Time to Study Together. Particularly to younger kids, studying together can actually be a fun time to bond. Children will feel that they are not alone in this great task of learning because their parents are there to assist and motivate them. This is also a great way to develop children’s study habits early on.

There are more ways for parents to enhance their child’s learning, but try these three things first and see the results yourself.

Learning is not confined in school, and parents can actually do a lot to enhance their child’s learning. In RAFI’s Educational Quality Improvement through Community Empowerment and Capacity Building (EQUIP-CEBU) project, parents are encouraged and capacitated to be actively involved in education, even in planning and implementing projects, to improve its quality. After all, it takes a community to educate our children.

For more information about EQUIP-Cebu,  contact Tanya Flores at 419 – 7234 loc. 209. Visit www.rafi.org.com or like them on Facebook: www.facebook.com.rafi.org.ph. (Tanya Flores/Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc.)