Mechelen mayor wants to enforce attendance at parent-teacher meetings

In an op-ed in De Morgen, Bart Somers said that parent meetings are an important way for parents to be involved in their children’s school career, and for schools to get to know a child’s home situation better. He said schools should make the meetings more accessible to parents.

He voiced his opinion as part of a debate on the lack of involvement of parents of foreign origin in school matters, instigated by Flemish education minister Hilde Crevits.

Somers, an MP for liberal party Open VLD, proposed giving fines to parents who don’t accept their “parental responsibility”. “Parents of children for whom the parents’ meetings are the least necessary are now present the most, while the parents in need of support remain more absent,” he said

Open VLD president Gwendolyn Rutten said this was not the party line. “For some things, you don’t need laws and fines; we’ve already come a long way with dialogue and commitment,” she said on Twitter.

The education networks feel parental involvement can be improved in many cases, but not through fines. “That is a repressive signal; instead we should create a culture of parent involvement,” said Lieven Boeve, head of the Catholic education network.

Photo courtesy IVG-School Secundair