Teachers and parents should stay in close contact via phone to better handle students – Manyin

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Manyin arrives for the launch of Parents and Community Engagement Programme organised by MESTR at SMK Datuk Patinggi Haji Abdul Gapor Stampin, Kuching.

KUCHING: The Sarawak Education Department should encourage teachers to obtain the contact numbers of students’ parents for communication purposes.

Minister of Education, Science and Technology Research (MESTR) Dato Sri Michael Manyin said this would enable teachers to communicate with parents effectively when problems involving students arise.

“I would like to suggest that the Education Department in Sarawak issue a circular to all schools, instructing that every teacher must know the mobile number of their students’ parents so that teachers and parents can communicate better when it concerns their children’s problem in school,” he said.

Manyin said Finland, the model for the world as far as education was concerned, was already implementing such a system.

He said during their official visit to Finland in May last year, they were told that every teacher has the mobile number of their students’ parents and the teachers and parents over there could communicate at any time concerning the students’ performance.

Manyin said they were also told that as far as discipline problem was concerned, it was almost zero in Finland – concluding that there was a need for total involvement of students’ parents to achieve such statistics over here.

“So if there is any problem with the children, parents must work with us. That is why we really appreciate your (parents) presence here today because the demands of education today is very different than in the past,” he said at the launch of the Parents and Community Engagement Programme organised by MESTR at SMK Datuk Patinggi Haji Abdul Gapor Stampin here today.