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 started to be implemented in the pilot provinces with the participation of the parents. The series of meetings, the first one of which was carried out in Şırnak in October, was 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.
Aiming to create awareness of ODAP Integrated Model among the parents and inform 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 the difference the parental support makes on students’ engagement in school and its contribution to the improvement of students’ academic and social skills are presented, the parents are informed of the available education opportunities.
In the first session of the meetings, where 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 education are disseminated, the parents learn about the scope and purposes of ‘prevention,’ ‘intervention’ and ‘compensation’ model.
In the second session, working groups are created, then they work on the 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.
The meetings, which were held at the weekend in order to facilitate the participation of the working parents, 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.