Help available for parents struggling with PdPR

KANGAR: Parents who are experiencing increased stress due to their children’s online classes have been advised by a parent group to equip themselves with knowledge to help smoothen the learning process.

Perlis’ Parents, Community and Private Sector’s Involvement (PIBK) chairman Dr Abdul Jalil Ramli said that apart from providing suitable gadgets, parents needed to know more about the school subjects to help their children cope.

‘I do not deny that this is not an easy thing for parents, especially those who are less knowledgeable, but the current situation urges them to make sacrifices for the future of their children.

“In countries such as the United States, parents are trying to overcome this problem by taking the initiative to increase their knowledge.

“During face-to-face learning sessions at school, the teacher can explain topics that students do not understand.

“However, parents have to take over this job with PdPR (home-based teaching and learning), causing them to feel pressured with the new burden,” he said recently.

Abdul Jalil said one of the factors that caused parents to feel stressed was the fact that they did not have enough knowledge to help their children and also did not have enough time after a long tiring day at work.

“To help parents, we (PIBK) suggest that the parties involved, either the Education Ministry (MOE) or the state Education Department, issue learning modules or notes for each subject to help parents understand the topics taught at the PdPR session,” he added.

Perlis National Population and Family Development Board director Naemah Ibrahim said they had received several calls from parents who felt pressured by PdPR and subsequently received help through its tele-counselling services.

“The pressure that arises is in terms of time management as these are work-from-home parents who feel overwhelmed as they have to manage two things at a time, namely, work and managing PdPR sessions,” she added.

She said, apart from that, less affluent families did not have enough gadgets for their children to follow online lessons. — Bernama