PTC and Cards Distribution Simultaneously Happen on 15th Day of August, 2015

DepED Order No. 9 s. 2015 dated April 1, 2015 stipulated the schedule of the 1st Quarter Examination (QE) of first grading period in all public elementary schools. 1st QE should begin effective August 6-7, 2015 for the entire grade levels of both primary and elementary schools. Every teacher and school head are directed to observe that schedule to ensure complete number of school days targetted for this School Year 2015-2016. It further stated that Cards Distribution and Parent-Teacher Conference (PTC) should be conducted during Saturday, August 15, 2015.

As traditionally observed, every teacher asked every student to bring home the card for signature of parent. Every parent is already used to sign the card every grading period for just a compliance for the requirement of the classroom teacher set to pupil. This practice made teacher and parents not sit together every quarter for some necessary talks and sharing over the status and progress of the school children inside the classroom. Student's issues and concerns in the school should be the priority topics of the teachers and parents. Every classroom yearly organizes Homeroom PTA in order to have formal body among parents and teacher in every grade level. The traditional practice of cards distribution eventually moti moved out parents from meeting teacher about the development of school children's performance in the classroom. Commonly-heard parent-teacher meeting focuses on financial problem of the classroom. Thus, parents are now reluctant to attend conference in the school whenever the advisers or school head needs the presence of parents for meeting. If there are fifty-five parents of certain grade level in the classroom, the attendance could hardly reach fifty percent (50%) of the total expected parents. Parent's inattention to whatever meeting in the school was driven by the habitually-wrong conduct of Parent-Teacher Conference (PTC) and the cards distribution.

Nowadays, it is not just DepED Order No. 9 s. 2015 that calls for the specific schedule of the PTC and the manner of distributing pupil's card. It is not new. It was already mandated since the previous years. Alhamdulillah, this DO enables the rectification of the PTC in every school of ISD. Every school head is now alerted to hold teachers' meeting in their respective school how to resolve possible hindrances that may bar the presence of all enrollees' parents in every grade level. I am suscribed to the school heads whose plan and preparation is to assist teachers in conducting homeroom PTC more innovative. In addition, I agreed with them that planning and preparation may be part of SLAC in their respective schools. Go deeper in determining more additional barriers to the following factors that may affect parents' inability to attend the homeroom PTC gathering:

1. Habitual absenteeism of parents in the meeting
2. Parents having more than one children enrolled in school
3. School children having no more parents
4. Parents or guardian unable to read and write
5. Insufficient information drive

Every homeroom adviser is expected no co-teacher that can assist him/her in the classroom in so far as 1-day simultaneous conduct of PTC is concerned. Likewise, school may not give full time to every classroom during the conference except for some minutes to entirely monitor and supervise the smooth sailing of the PTC. In this case, careful and critical planning shall be taken into consideration by school head and teachers. I am delighted enough to hear school head helping classroom advisers strategize the flow of the PTC. It's quite enough to make PTC more motivating for the next attendance of the parents in the forthcoming 2nd, 3rd and 4th conduct of the PTC and cards distribution. As instructional leader of the district, the DIC is excited to suggest the following key areas as parts of the August 15 classroom session of both class advisers and the parents:

• Ranking list of pupils from highest to lowest performing students posted in the walls and distributed to every parent.
• Parents' ambition on their children
• Sharing on how they (parents) provide follow-up study of their children at home
• Student's stregnths and weaknesses at home
• How they manage financial livelihood to support their children's education
• Updates of children's strengths and weaknesses in the classroom
• Grading system, adoption of Bahasa Sug (Mother Tongue) as a subject from Kindergarten to Grade 3
• DepED Order No. 12 s. 2015 dated April 10, 2015
• School activities for the next quarter specifically those stipulated in the SC 2015

The DIC truly believes that eachers and school heads are more expert in instructional and administrative supervision for the better learning outcomes of the students. Good luck teachers!