The Releasing Confidence and Creativity (RCC) programme, with its experience at the grassroots level, realizes the importance of involving the community and parents in running Early Childhood Development (ECD) schools successfully. To increase parental participation, parents are being encouraged more and more to contribute towards better and more effective functioning of the schools. Here are a few examples of the parental involvement efforts that have been generated in RCC schools.

Parental involvement in schools
Since most of any child’s early years are really spent at home, it would be an honest assumption to add that parents are definitely the greatest source of knowledge. In the RCC programme to fully incorporate the parents interests in their child’s learning, parents have been encouraged by the teachers to be frequently involved in the classrooms. This has benefited the children’s learning environment as the RCC schools have been actively engaging parents as learning partners. There are various examples of parental involvement in Sahib Khan Mirani and Mir Mohalla, two places in Hyderabad taluka where mothers are usually invited into the classroom to teach students how to make clay toys to diversify children’s learning experiences. Similarly in Jaindo Halepoto, parental involvement is such that a student’s grandmother comes in to teach the practice of reciting the Holy Quran.

In Yaar Mohammad Kandra, story-telling at schools has become a major accomplishment of the fathers. Aqeel Baba, an elderly of the village, comes to the school regularly to tell stories to the children for their entertainment and their moral well being. Thus, Aqeel Baba is the epitome that presents the effective involvement of the elderly community members and their valuable indigenous knowledge. This participation is not merely restricted to the men of the family. While the government teachers involved in the RCC programme are engaged in training, many mothers and sisters are fully involved as teacher substitutes on a voluntary basis, showing their keen interest in their children’s education.

Food for thought…
Khan Bibi is an active member of the school committee of Killi Ulais Khan Mengal Government Girls School. Though she belongs to a humble economic background her son and her four daughters all regularly attend school. One of her daughters was initially not interested in the ECD class and used to throw tantrums when asked to attend school. The same daughter now happily studies in the school. She takes part in different class activities and thoroughly enjoys using the material available in the classroom such as colorful toys, pictures, storybooks and charts. Khan Bibi has seen a lot of improvement in her daughter’s behavior since she began attending school. She realizes that the RCC school is providing a strong basis in building the capacity and confidence of children, hence making them ready for school. Besides her motherly duties Khan Bibi is also working as a cook at the local primary school, which is also implementing the Tawana Pakistan Program, serving nutritious food to all students including those in the ECD classroom. Owing to her job, she has observed the benefits the RCC initiative has had on all the children. She has noticed that children who go through the ECD classroom structure are more confident with their skills and they show more enthusiasm and curiosity towards exploration and learning. Her faith in the programme has led her to suggest that the ECD classroom should be present in every school of the country. She regularly attends all school and community meetings and is keenly interested in educating her community’s children. She also motivates others families to enroll their children in the ECD classes.