Being one of the activities carried out within the scope of ODAP with a view to preventing early school leaving (ESL), Parent Information Meetings have been implemented in the pilot provinces with the participation of the parents. The series of meetings started first in Şırnak in October. Then, these meetings were later conducted in Ağrı, Ankara, Hakkâri, Sakarya, Şanlıurfa and Çankırı with the participation of the parents of the students studying in the pilot schools. The Information Meetings in the remaining pilot provinces will have been completed by mid-December.
Targeting creating awareness of ODAP Integrated Model among the parents and informing them of the importance of regular school attendance, Parent Information Meetings are conducted as a half-day meeting each including three separate sessions.
In the meetings, where how parental support makes difference on students’ engagement in school and contributes to the academic and social skill improvement of the students is presented, the parents are informed of the available education opportunities.
In the first session of the meeting, the information related to the situation regarding ESL in Türkiye and the importance of putting in place an integrated approach that shall tackle ESL in secondary high school is disseminated and the parents learn about the scope and purposes of prevention’, intervention and compensation model.
In the second session, working groups are created and groups work on proposed solutions with a view to tackling early school leaving. In the last session, the outcomes from each working group are presented to all the participants.
Held at the weekend in order to facilitate the participation of the working parents, the meetings do not only provide up-to-date information to the parents about the activities under ODAP but also allow for disseminating the message on the importance of education. Furthermore, these meetings serve as an important platform to measure the perceptions of the parents on education in general, learn their views on ODAP Integrated Model and Early Warning System, and develop cooperation opportunities.