With a view to strengthen parent-child-school partnerships across India, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has designed a parenting calendar that proposes a series of orientations and initiatives to provide holistic support to students and parents, aligning with the National Education Policy, 2020. The calendar was designed based on a survey of parents across the country.
The survey conducted by the CBSE garnered responses from 13,000 parents across India, including from Delhi, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Ladakh and Manipur, with 69.6% of the respondents being mothers, 28.2% being fathers and 2.1% guardians.
Also read: Vulnerable students and India’s need for an inclusive academic system
The survey indicated that while the parents felt confident in managing their children’s education and behaviour, many still required structured guidance, resources, and support from schools. Strengthening parent-school collaboration through workshops, teacher engagement, and accessible parenting resources can bridge the existing gaps, ensuring a more holistic approach to child development, it said.
According to the survey, 19.7% of parents, or around one in five, indicated that they were still navigating challenges of parenting; 43.5% believed they fully understood the impact of their parenting choices on their child’s growth; 36.8% expressed a desire to learn more; 12.3% said they sought guidance to help their child build social skills and relationships; 10.9% sought help in managing their own emotions and their children, and 11% said they sought help in setting rules, boundaries and encouraging the child.
Also read: How to make India a global study destination
Other areas of concern where parents sought guidance were guiding the child with patience and positive feedback (12.1%), communicating effectively with children (11.1%), guiding their child with patience and positive feedback (7.5%), saying no respectfully without causing conflict (9.5%), supporting academic learning (13.7%), and time management as well as study habits (11.8%).
While 54.4% of parents felt confident in managing behavioural issues, 40.1% struggled at times, and 5.5% required more support. Similarly, in academics, 53.5% of parents felt assured, while 40.9% reported occasional difficulties, and 5.6% needed additional help.
In terms of school support, 49% of parents believed that schools provided adequate assistance in aligning parenting with education. However, 29.5% felt that more support was needed. Regarding communication with teachers, 72% of parents felt comfortable discussing their child’s emotional and social needs, though 3.8% felt hesitant.
When asked how they would like to enhance parent-school collaboration, parents expressed a preference for workshops and training programs (32.6%), regular parent-teacher communication (21.4%), and personalised guidance along with after-school activities (17.4%).
Parents had clear expectations from parenting programmes, with 26.5% hoping for improved behaviour and emotional well-being, 25.2% expecting better academic performance, and another 25.2% seeking stronger parent-child communication. Additionally, 73.7% of parents believed that Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) could play a more active role in supporting parenting needs.
The calendar proposes scheduled parent-teacher interactions at key academic and development milestones of student to discuss their progress, challenges and achievements. These include parenting workshops focusing on self-care, behaviour management, cognitive development and foundational learning skills in early childhood. It also has advice on addressing separation anxiety, managing screen time, and understanding the child’s emotional needs. In kindergarten, the calendar proposes teaching emotional regulation, raising happy children, resilience, and managing tantrums with positive strategies. In Grades 1 and 2, it aims to guide parents to have a literary-rich home, develop story telling habits, teach co-operation, empathy, conflict resolution and setting boundaries.
From Grades 3 to 5, parents should focus on enhancing logical reasoning, decision-making skills, online safety, and self-discipline and from Grades 6 to 8, they should be guided on navigating hormonal and emotional shifts in adolescence, addressing social influence, cyber bullying and so on. Suggestions for Grades 9 to 12 deal with managing campus stress, handling distractions, discussing relationships, consent and safety, career road map and so on.
Published – March 29, 2025 04:04 am IST