Parents at Colonaire were reminded of the need to take up their responsibility and make a more meaningful contribution to their children’s academic success.{{more}}

Hannah Browne, Education Officer in the Literacy Department of the Ministry of Education, made this recommendation as the staff and students of the Colonaire Primary School showcased their reading achievements at the third ‘Reading Extravaganza’ held last Thursday, January 27, under the theme ‘Taking a ride on the Reading Airline’.

The activity exhibited the reading achievement of the students in an array of displays, including drama and storytelling.

Browne made the charge that there were too many of the nation’s children on the roads doing their own thing.

“We need to understand that for children to be successful, we need the cooperation of the parents, teachers, children and members of the community,” Browne explained.

“Teachers must teach, parents must take up their responsibility to guide their children,” she added.

Even as she commended the parents for turning out in their numbers at the event, she complained of the poor numbers in other institutions where similar activities were held. She said this was indicative of what is taking place in the home, that parents were not taking an active part in their children’s education.

She described the situation as being very serious and made an appeal to parents to be sure that they played their role.

Browne further contended that parents need to be more active within the respective parent-teachers associations.

“Too many times parents send children to school and they (the children) go on the road and the parents are not aware of it,” Browne explained, adding that if parents contacted the school, they would have a better idea of what was going on with their children.

Hannah Harry, Literacy Coordinator and Grade Three teacher at the school, said while there has been some improvement, there was the problem of fluency and students’ ability to comprehend the material they read.

“We find children don’t read as fluently and when they do that, they can’t understand the message in the print,” Harry explained.

She said that the school had identified some measures to address the problem, which include the introduction of a strategy known as Reader’s Theater.

This, according to Harry, helps in the areas of fluency, accuracy and speed.

She also indicated that reading is done in the individual classes where students further learn how to sound out the letters and separate words into syllables.