New edu policy: AP teachers will now visit students’ homes twice a year

Vijayawada: Soon, government school teachers will start visiting students at home to meet the parents and discuss their child’s performance and academic future.

On Tuesday, principal secretary of School Education, Praveen Prakash, IAS, introduced the ‘Parent-Teacher Home Visit Program’, through which every school teacher will visit the homes of their students twice a year.

He said that the program drew inspiration from similar programs in the government schools of the USA and Australia.

Class 10 private students scored 121 marks more than government students

Addressing over two lakh teachers and lecturers of government schools and colleges in a meeting on Tuesday, Praveen Prakash emphasised the need to bridge the learning gap between government and private school students.

The address, ‘From the Desk of the Principal Secretary, Episode 16,’ highlighted the disparity in average marks scored by students in the recently concluded Class 10 and Class 12 Board exams.

Government school students, on average, obtained 358 marks out of 600 in Class 10 exams compared to 479 marks by private school students – a significant difference of 121 marks. A similar trend was observed in Class 12 students and the median and mode of marks obtained by students from both school systems.

Emphasising the need to stop the blame game among teachers regarding the performance of students, the principal secretary called for a ‘disruptive intervention’ to break this cycle at its root.

How does the ‘Parent-Teacher Home Visit Program’ work?

The teachers will be required to visit the students at their homes twice a year.

Once in June, at the beginning of the academic year, when teachers will create a personalised annual academic plan for each student.

The second time will be in January, following the half-yearly exams, when teachers will visit again to discuss progress and make any necessary course corrections.

Teachers will help parents discuss studies over dinner

The program will encourage teachers to highlight the importance of family engagement in education. Teachers are urged to encourage parents to have regular dinners with their children and discuss schoolwork during these meals.

The principal secretary said that the evidence from the USA and Australia suggested that such home visits, coupled with increased parental involvement, can lead to a 13 per cent increase in student academic performance and a 24 per cent improvement in attendance.

Teachers may have to do 60 home visits per year

Given the manageable class sizes in government schools (typically 25-30 students), conducting 60 visits per year will be a reasonable commitment, requiring motivation rather than a significant additional workload, he said.

Following the completion of their visits, teachers are welcome to share their experiences directly with the principal secretary by sending a message to the mobile number 9013133636.

Praveen Prakash further reiterated that the government is committed to providing quality education to all students and the ‘Parent-Teacher Home Visit Program’ is a significant step towards achieving this goal.

We believe that by fostering closer collaboration between teachers, parents, and students, we can unlock the full potential of every child in our government schools, he added.