Struggling parents told to get help to deal with virtual learning

SOME parents are struggling to deal with online learning, but even with help available through the Ministry of Education, many of them remain silent on this issue.

During the third edition of the Ministry of Education’s ongoing virtual National Consultation on Tuesday night, Natile Robinson-Arnold, school social worker specialist; and Sharon King, school social worker assured parents they are not in this alone.

Robinson-Arnold stressed the importance of parents finding the help they need to understand how to effectively facilitate online learning before any assistance can be offered to their children. She said the first step to this is ensuring they get the mental health assistance they need.

“Some of the challenges we experience come from our essential workers and our single parents who still have to go out there, put food on the table and now wonder how can I still teach my children during this time when I have to be at work.” She said the ministry is aware of parents’ “silent suffering” from challenges with virtual learning. Despite their best efforts, parents still struggle to grasp the model on how to deal with virtual learning, Robinson-Arnold said. And the ministry’s goal is to work with all stakeholders to get all the support parents need.

In her remarks, King said, “The challenge doesn’t start from issues related to online learning, it’s from job losses or reduced income caused by the restrictions due to covid19. Unemployment is a major challenge for a number of our parents because most of them would have worked in small businesses or they would have been the ones with the food carts or their own private businesses and now aside from getting devices, providing necessities are a challenge.”

She said parents are also left overwhelmed by the demand from employers but they must be able to “shell, take one day at a time” and focus on what is important at the moment as a way to manage each challenge as it comes.

The consultation was also streamed on Facebook where hundreds of parents expressed frustration and concerns over poor connectivity, no access to devices, financial issues, problems with providing a proper meal at home, understating the learning packages given by schools, proper supervision, absent teachers and help understanding assignments.

Some parents said they have turned to YouTube tutorials to help them understand lessons but that has also been a challenge. For one parent, some teachers are showing no interest during class and this is creating another challenge for parents.

The mother of a form one student, who called in on the show said many parents have ensured all resources were provided along with a space conducive to learning to help their children adapt to the new system. But teachers are absent or not putting in enough to connect with students.

She said, “When you have children who don’t have a mummy or a daddy to sit with them and you have them going online and miss isn’t online or miss computer giving trouble, it’s always one particular challenge after another. These children will become discouraged and look for other avenues to occupy their time. We have online classes but a low percentage of teachers coming to address these classes.”

Robinson-Arnold advises all parents with these issues to lodge a complaint to the principal or contact the school supervisor for further assistance.