Meeting for parents

A consultation meeting for parents of state school children is to be organised by the Association of School Councils (AKS) tomorrow at Robert Sammut Hall in Floriana between 9.30 and 11.30 a.m.

The meeting, to be led by association president Frans Borg, will deal with the revision of primary school syllabi and the setting up of working groups to discuss the syllabi.

Other issues to be discussed include the right to quality education, homework policies, school environment and security, heavy school bags, transport and the relevance of textbooks.

Another item of the agenda will be the AKS's survey of parents on the perceived effects of the national minimum curriculum, which got the thumbs-up from parents.

The meeting will also start to prepare for the school councils elections to be held in January 2006. Two years ago 60 per cent of schools held an election for parent council members and more than 6,000 parents turned out to vote, a relatively high figure.

The meeting is a follow-up of the rally held last month on the occasion of the third European Day of Parents and Schools, when parents raised various curricular and scholastic issues. The event was introduced in Malta by the AKS on the initiative of Mr Borg, who is also the secretary general of the European Parents Association.

Mr Borg, who hosts a popular radio programme on educational issues aimed at parents, has been in large part responsible for the growing parental participation in state schools.

The AKS and the Foundation for Educational Services are going to organise courses for parents interested in becoming involved in the running of school councils and in parental participation in education.