Parents need to equip themselves with knowledge to face PdPR challenges

Perlis' Parents, Community and Private Sector's Involvement (PIBKs) chairman Associate Professor Dr Abdul Jalil Ramli said that many parents were complaining that they were experiencing increased stress by online learning.

"During face-to-face learning sessions at school, the teacher will explain to the students about a topic that students do not understand.

"However, parents had to take over teacher's job during the PdPR, causing them to feel pressured with the new burden," he told Bernama recently.

Abdul Jalil said one of the factors that caused parents to feel stressed out was due to 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 (PIBKS) suggest that the parties involved, either the Ministry of Education (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 said.

He said apart from that, parents also need to improve their knowledge in order to help their children.

'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 the developed countries such as the United States the parents are trying to overcome this problem by taking the initiative to increase their knowledge," he said.

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

"The pressure that arises is in terms of time management as these are working from home parents who feel overwhelmed as they have to manage two things at one time, namely, work and managing PdPR session," she said.

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

"LPPKN not only offers counselling services to couples with marital problems but also helps those with emotional problems and emotional stress, especially when the country is hit by the COVID-19 pandemic," she said.

Sharing her experience in managing PdPR is a civil servant Norhafizah Saidin, 50, a mother of one, who said that she was worried about the health and stress faced by her son as PdPR lessons involved much longer time compared with normal classes.

"Although learning is important, physical and emotional health is also important. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I do not allow my son to play outside with friends because I was worried about the risk of infection.

"A lot of time is spent at home by attending PdPR classes starting as early as 7 am until late in the afternoon. I am worried it will affect the children's mental health because they are just confined at home.

She hopes that the school and teachers can reduce homework as well as create a creative learning environment to reduce the stress faced by the students.