This week Education Times took time off to witness what happens on visitation days. The practice is different from school to school with some settling for the first Sunday of the month while others prefer the last one.  In some schools, it is almost an open door policy while others are very strict on who is allowed in. 

However, schools ought to be very careful with who gets to visit and what they carry as it has been found that some use the chance to smuggle illicit goods like cigarettes, drugs and alcohol to students. 

In other cases instead of parents, students have been found to entertain their boyfriends and girlfriends who come under the guise of being a relative or family friend. It is therefore advisable that schools keep a record of who is allowed to visit a child and where possible visiting cards can be issued and presented before one is allowed to get in. 

On such days a responsible parent should make an effort to check with the teachers on the academic progress as well as the discipline of their child. This helps one to know how their child is fairing and builds a bond between the parent and the teachers. 

We did also learn that some parents never both to check on their children after sending them to boarding schools. Such parents only show up when their child has a disciplinary case to answer and because they have not been following up on their child’s progress they become ‘lawyers’ ready to defend their children. This is not helpful because you are simply breeding tomorrow’s vagabond.