She said: "The parents have abdicated their responsibilities to the teachers. ... I heard the prime minister say there is no way to legislate parenting; but there is a way and there must be a way."

Ms Molly also said: "I know what my colleagues are doing and I know what we put into many of our schools in Jamaica and we see it falling flat because we don't have the buy-in from the community."

Learning at home

From this perspective, the teachers' frustration and, we suspect, anger, are understandable. After all, they instruct children on the implicit understanding that their lessons will be reinforced after the classroom sessions are over.

There is absolutely no way that the already limited classroom time they have with the students, especially in situations where there is overcrowding, would be sufficient to get every student to the required basic standard.

In addition, even in the absence of explicit instruction, it certainly helps when the home is made a place which facilitates learning, with the children given access to reading and writing materials. Unfortunately, we suspect, in many households, there is more instruction via the television than anything else.

Becoming more involved

Clearly, the home environment is one of the variables affecting the performance of students; but not nearly as much, we contend, as to negate the efforts of teachers, as many like to argue. For, we do know that there are teachers in the education system who consider their classroom duties as a secondary, even annoying part of their lives, which are largely dedicated to 'hustling' to make ends meet.

We suggest, however, that parents, especially at the primary level, be encouraged into being more involved in their children's education by using a strategy which is already employed at some preparatory schools. Parents and guardians are required to sign their children's homework before it is accepted by the teachers.

Of course, a signature is very easy to scribble without actually looking at the schoolwork. However, we believe that a sense of basic pride would motivate many parents and guardians to get more involved in their children's education. And for those who do not, their disinterest would be obvious.

Develop sense of pride

In addition, if the homework is unsigned, it would be on record so that those responsible for assessing a teacher's performance would be able to see that home instruction, which is a part of the education equation, has not been provided.

We would hope that parents and guardians would develop a sense of pride in their children's performance, which would create an atmosphere where learning is encouraged at home, as well as in the classroom.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.