More work needed to reach out to ‘invisible parents’ who feel excluded from schools

Elaine Yau:

As the founding president of the Federation of Parent-Teacher Associations of Yuen Long District, I have always paid close attention to the development of the relationship between schools and parents.
The relationship has come a long way since 1999 when both sides viewed each other with hostility and scepticism. There are a lot of troubled or single-parent families in Tin Shui Wai. Many parents are deemed “invisible parents”. Coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, mostly from the mainland, they lack self-confidence and always fear people will ridicule them for their accents and unsophisticated remarks.
Afraid of suffering embarrasment, children also don’t want their parents to attend school functions. So such parents seldom have connections with schools and when they do attend certain functions such as parents’ day, they take umbrage easily at what teachers say.
For example, when teachers find fault with their children’s performance, such “invisible parents” will think that they are making veiled criticisms of their parenting skills.