KUCHING: The Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of SMK Tun Abang Haji Openg urged parents and teachers to strengthen cooperation for the sake of the students’ future.
Its chairman Jasni Jubli said, “The responsibility of guiding students in the school falls on the teachers but once the students walk out of the school compound (after classes) they are no longer under the teachers’ responsibility. This is one of the school’s concerns.”
“Hence, we hope that the parents would do their part to monitor their children especially in their own homes,” he said in his speech during the school’s PTA 25th Annual General Meeting, today.
Touching on PTA contributions, Jasni said that the PTA had worked hard to provide better infrastructure facilities to enhance atmosphere in the school.
“Whatever activities involving school associations or uniform services, we do not need to do them outside the school because we already have the basic facilities and space to hold them,” Jasni said.
He also stated that the PTA will continue to hold workshops and activities including tahfiz programmes and tuitions.
“We aim to prepare the students as much as we could so that they become assets to the community and nation,” he added.
Jasni also reminded the parents to avoid going straight to the higher authority to complaint on teachers’ misconduct.
According to Jasni, the parents should talk to the principal or the school administration first. The discussion should be done in the lower level before it could be brought to the higher up.
“This is because we have to look at the root cause and how serious it is. The parents could not rely only on the students’ words because the facts could be exaggerated,” he said.
The school principal Affida Helmi said in her speech that parents’ concern is essential and highly needed in the matter.
“The school is just a facilitator. We could organise various programmes and provide the best services, but without the concerns of the parents, all these would not work,” she said.
“We could initiate a lot of great ideas but we need the parents to play their role. This is because the teachers’ roles are limited only within the school compound,” she said.
She continued, “Sometimes the teachers have to call the parents to inquire why a student is absent. Some of them even willingly stay late to guide their students in their study. But this is probably as far as we can go.”
“Nonetheless, parents’ commitment is still a big factor in shaping the students’ identity and knowledge in education and discipline,” she concluded.
During the meeting awards were also present to students who excelled in their last year’s public examinations such as PT3, SPM and STPM.
