Parent engagement day is a termly event for Impact Network where parents, teachers, learners, and other stakeholders of the community come together to address various issues affecting the academics and wellbeing of the learners. Parent engagement has provided numerous benefits since its inception, including the improvement of parent-teacher ties as well as community and organizational relationships. It has also inspired and motivated parents to assist their children beyond basic school.

This term of parent engagement featured a focus on cultivating and promoting literacy abilities, which aligns with the 2023 World Literacy Day theme "Promoting literacy for a world in transition: Building the foundation for sustainable and peaceful societies". Teachers and learners organized reading and spelling competitions, poems, songs, and role-plays centered on literacy to encourage and emphasize the importance of literacy skills among learners, parents, and the community. This day provided an exceptional opportunity for learners to exhibit their literacy skills before their parents, teachers, and the community. Attendees were amazed to see learners from grades 1 and 2 reading and spelling words using sounds, skills they acquired through the Read Smart Cinyanja program. Some parents were moved to tears when they saw their children reading passages and spelling words in English and Nyanja fluently and confidently.

*Parents at David Seidenfeld School are amazed by their children's performances!*

Many parents were moved by the teacher's efforts and the organization's initiatives to promote literacy. For example, a parent, Mr. Frank Nkhata from Kapiri Village in Sinda District, said this: “Parent engagement day is a wonderful day where we parents witness the progress of our children in terms of reading and self-expression. The other importance of this day is that our children feel at home in the presence of us parents. It also removes the nervousness of our children so they will become great leaders of our nation. I wish this program came twice a term.”

Daka Windfred, a grade 6 student, at Chikoko school stated, "This day is very important to us children because it helps us improve our reading skills and express ourselves in front of our parents. Our parents were also motivated to observe our progress in reading and even speaking English during the poem and role play we performed”

"This is a very important program given that it encourages parents and the community to work together with the teachers to foster learners' literacy levels from the early stage. As a teacher, I am encouraged to see my students and others demonstrate their reading and spelling portions, and I am driven to do even more to assist them in improving their literacy skills." said Mr. Kelvin Phiri, a grade three teacher at David Seidenfeld School.

It's one of my favorite days of the term!

Thanks so much, Timothy.

Parent Engagement Day!