As schools in Cross River State prepare to resume on September 14, 2026, parents must return to the drawing board and take a fresh look at their responsibilities. The education and upbringing of a child cannot be left entirely in the hands of teachers and school management.
Many parents are already eager for the resumption date, looking forward to sending their children and wards back to school, perhaps partly to relieve themselves of the responsibilities, challenges and so many headaches that come with having them at home during the long holiday.
However, we are gradually creating an academic environment where some parents have little or no role to play in the educational development of their children beyond paying school fees.
For some parents, once their children leave for school, their responsibility seems to end there. They hardly find time to understand what their children are learning, how they are performing, the challenges they face, or even the kind of company they keep.
During the holiday, for instance, many children have been sent for holiday lessons to keep them occupied during the break.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with engaging children in holiday lessons, skills acquisition and other productive activities. The concern, however, is when such arrangements become an excuse for parents to avoid spending meaningful time with their children.
Children need more than formal education. They also need informal learning, guidance, discipline, values and emotional connection within the family. These are responsibilities that cannot be completely outsourced to teachers or private lesson instructors.
Parents need to rebuild strong relationships with their children. A visit to some schools today will reveal the extent of misconduct among some children, and in many cases, some of these behaviours can be traced back to weaknesses in family upbringing and inadequate parental supervision.
Some parents hardly know their children anymore because they are constantly occupied with one responsibility or another. In the process, they leave the responsibility of shaping their children’s character almost entirely to schools, teachers, domestic staff or private lesson teachers.
It is important to stress that parenting comes with sacrifices and responsibilities. These responsibilities cannot be completely transferred to a paid professional simply because the child spends several hours in school.
Therefore, Cross River parents must return to the tradition of checking their children’s notebooks, spending quality time with them, reviewing teachers’ comments, identifying assignments completed and those left undone, asking questions about what they have learnt and monitoring their academic progress.
When these simple practices are consistently carried out, parents can identify areas where their children are struggling and take timely steps to support improvement.
This term, parents should also make it a priority to visit their children’s schools, particularly during open days. Ask questions. Listen to teachers. Understand your child’s strengths and weaknesses, and hold the school accountable for the investment being made in the child’s education.
This does not only benefit the child, it also contributes to strengthening the education system in Cross River State.
Parents should equally avoid blindly paying for every financial demand brought home by their children or wards. Where there are new charges or changes in school fees and other payments, parents should ask questions and seek proper clarification.
One effective way to remain informed is through active participation in the Parents Teachers Association (PTA). It is unfortunate that some parents hardly attend PTA meetings, even when important decisions affecting their children’s education are discussed.
Parents must begin to see PTA meetings as an important part of their responsibility rather than an unnecessary obligation.
There is also a growing concern about the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in children’s academic work. Allowing a child to use AI to assist with an assignment is not necessarily wrong.
Technology has an important place in modern learning. The problem arises when children become dependent on AI to complete tasks they are expected to understand and do themselves.
Some children now copy and submit AI-generated assignments containing difficult expressions and concepts far beyond their level of understanding.
In such cases, the technology may produce a neat assignment, but the child may learn little or nothing from it. Parents must therefore supervise how their children use technology. AI should be a learning aid, not a substitute for thinking.
Overdependence on technology, when not properly guided, could contribute to producing a generation that struggles with independent thinking, creativity and problem-solving.
The same attention must be given to mobile phones and other gadgets. Giving a child a phone is not necessarily bad, but parents must ask themselves: Is the child actually using the device to learn as intended, or has it become a source of distraction? Parental supervision is essential.
Parents Must Support, Not Undermine Teachers. Another disturbing trend is the tendency of some parents to encourage their children to rebel against teachers and school authorities whenever disciplinary measures are taken.
Some parents go as far as confronting teachers or school management because their children were corrected for misconduct. While teachers and schools must also be accountable and fair in their dealings with students, parents should not automatically defend wrongdoing simply because the offender is their child.
When parents consistently undermine legitimate school rules, they make discipline difficult and may contribute to the growth of untamed and deviant behaviour among students. A child needs love, but love must be accompanied by discipline, accountability and proper guidance.
Cross River State’s education sector can only become stronger when the family, schools and government work together and each institution plays its rightful role.
Therefore, parents must step up their responsibilities by creating time for their children and wards after school, engaging regularly with their children’s schools, seeking to understand the Cross River State Government’s education policies, and showing greater interest in developments and accountability within the state’s education sector.
Education is not a responsibility that begins and ends at the school gate. It starts from the home and continues through the school and wider society.
So, as Cross River schools prepare to resume on September 14, parents should not simply prepare school fees, uniforms, books and other materials. They should also prepare themselves to become more active participants in their children’s education.
What becomes of learning when the first institution responsible for shaping a child’s character becomes weaker and increasingly disconnected from the learning process?
Kelvin Ololo is a Cross Riverian, Journalist and writes from Calabar, Cross River State.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Kelvin Ololo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.
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