Man is a social animal. Everybody wants love, affection and recognition. Progress of the society and nation depends on the educational progress of the children. In a responsive society children face many educational and psychological problems due to the life style of their parents. Parents have to perform so many roles altogether. On one hand where they have to pursue their career, on the other they have to face a lot of challenges regarding family, society and the nation. With the passage of time, their needs have increased but sources are limit. In this situation, both husband and wife want to earn money for better living.

In responsive society man and woman are equal. Both of them want to contribute to family, society and nation. For this, woman leaves the four walls of her home and ventures out to build a career of her own. An educated and bright woman does not want to waste her talents in domestic work and child rearing activities alone. Instead, she utilizes her talents to compare with men by pursuing high commitment careers in that area which were earlier dominated by men. Since the ancient age, our Indian society is biased and contradictory regarding the status of women. On one side she is expected to marry, have children and bring up them retaining traditional feminity but on the other side. She is expected to pursue a career too. Such incongruous demands compel women to a super woman who is a competent professional as well as an excellent wife and mother.

Women are often turning between these two concluding roles. The major challenges which she faces, is to maintain balance between these roles. In this situation, she forgets the demands of the career while at home and forgets the household tasks while at work.

Career of parents has an adverse effect on the child. This affects the personality development, academic achievement and other activities of the child. Working mother and father who are over-loaded with work at home and outside, find it difficult to spare time with their children. In this situation when child comes home from the school with bag full of experience which he wants to share with someone but finds no one other than the walls. The fresh and energetic child waits anxiously for his parents who return home with a tired mind and body. As soon as they reach, mother enters in the kitchen and father gets absorbed in the newspaper. Now, child wants to listen and to be listened by his parents. He wants to share the fun, excitement and experience at school with them. He expects a good response from the parents but parents are tired and anxious about next day duty. They neglect the child and tell him to go away and study himself. In this, child’s voice goes in the deaf ears. His emotions are suppressed. He feels lonely, insecure and frustrated. So, he does not perform well in studies and faces many problems in educational life.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

The investigation was mainly aimed at the problems faced by the children whose father and mother were working, the problem was titled as ‘Educational problems of children of employed parents in slums’.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

The main objective of the study were as under -

To find out whether the children of employed parents face difficulty in completing the home assignments.

To find whether the academic performance of the children of employed parents is affected by their parent’s employment.

To find out whether the children get enough guidance from their employed parents.

To find out whether the children of employed parents spend sufficient time with their parents.

To find out whether the children have adequate educational interaction with their employed parents.

HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY:

To achieve the objectives the following hypotheses had been framed:

1. The children of employed parents do not face any problem in completing home assignments.

2. The academic performance of the children is not affected by the employment of their parents.

3. The student of employed parents have no adjustment problems with the teacher, peer group etc.

4. The students of employed parents spend sufficient time with their parents.

5. The students of employed parents get enough guidance from their parents.

6. The students of employed parents have adequate educational interaction with their parents.

SAMPLE OF THE STUDY:

600 students of class 3^rd, 4^th and 5^th were randomly selected from the four schools of Raipur city.

METHOD OF STUDY:

The normative survey method of research had been used for the study.

TOOL:

The investigator constructed his own questionnaire to collect the information form the students of employed parents. Questionnaire consisted of socio-ethnographic data of the children, family background of the children and problem list of the children etc.

DATA COLLECTION:

Data has been collected from the representative group of 300 secondary school students selected from four schools of Raipur district through questionnaire developed by the investigator.

The following four schools were selected for the study:

1. Ramnagar Primary School, Telghaninaka

2. Kabirnagar Primary School, Hirapur

3. Kalingnagar Primary School, Civil Line

4. Santosinagar Primary School, Tikrapara

5. Ashok Nagar Primary School, Guryari

ANALYSIS OF THE DATA:

The analysis and interpretation have conditioned with the hypothesis as formulated. Therefore the analysis and interpretation have been attempted hypothesis wise. The major number of students do not get enough assistance from their parents in doing the home assignments, though they are qualified. The main reason for this is lack of time. It is evident that mostly parents reach home after 5 p.m. and leave home early in the morning. After the whole days work when they return home, they feel tired and want to take rest. Nevertheless mothers do household work like cooking, cleaning etc. As a result the child does not get full assistance from his parents. Hence, it can be said that hypothesis-1 is rejected. It is observed from the findings, that the employed parents do not pay much attention to their child due to busy schedule. So, academic performance of the child gets affected. Hence hypothesis no.2 is rejected. Because of not getting enough attention from the parents the child tries to seek attention of their friends and teachers in the class. He quarrels with his friends for silly matters. He does not pay enough attention in studies and faces adjustment problems. Hence hypothesis no.3 is rejected. Parents leave home early in the morning and reach home late in the evening. So, the child does not get sufficient time to spend with his parents hence hypothesis no.4 is rejected. Mostly children do not get proper guidance from their parents. It is found that some parents are aggressive to their children. As a result the child also becomes aggressive in the class and outside. Hence it can be said that hypothesis no.5 is rejected. It is found that majority of the children do not clarify their doubts with their parents which shows that the educational interaction between the children and the parents is very less. Hence, hypothesis no.6 is rejected. In this way, we can say that the children of employed parents are affected by all the ways.

FINDINGS:

The following are the major findings that emerged from the study:

1. Most of the children of employed parents do not get enough assistance in doing home assignments as they expect. That means the academic performance of the children is negatively affected by parents being employed.

2. The study revealed that most of the children of employed parents do not have proper educational interaction with their parents and they are in need of proper guidance.

3. The academic performance of the children of employed parents is affected by both mother and father being employed.

4. The children of the employed parents do not get proper guidance from their parents.

5. The interaction between the employed parents and their children is comparatively less.

6. The children of employed parents do not get enough time to share their creative ideas with them.

7. The children of employed parents find it difficult to adjust with teacher and peer groups.

8. Most of the children of employed parents feel lonely, insecure and frustrated which affects their education.

SUGGESTIONS:

The study revealed that most of the children of employed parents do not have proper interaction with their parents. So they are in need of proper guidance and assistance. Hence, both father and mother should spend more time with their children in spite of their tight work schedule. They should listen to the problems of their children carefully and suggest proper solutions for them. They should give proper guidance and assistance to their children, so that the children feel mental peace and happiness. The study brought out the fact that children of employed parents feel lonely, insecure and frustrated. Since children reach home in the evening before their parents, they spend a considerable amount of time alone at home which gives these to the above state of mind. To avoid this, if someone is there at home as grandparents, the children will be happier and not feel lonely and insecure. So it is advisable that employed parents should stay as a joint family instead of nuclear family. The children should be more benefited. The personality development of the children is directly related to their family climate. This situation points out the need for taking special care of the children of employed parents, as both father and mother are working. So, programs are to be organized which emphasize the role of good family climate. Parent teacher association can play a major and effective role in organizing such programs. Talks by experts could also be arranged for over all development of the children. The academic performance of the children of employed parents can be improved by giving proper attention and guidance. So, parents should devote enough time with their children. As the parents are employed, their children become habitual of living alone at home. So they find it difficult to adjust with teacher and peer groups. This problem of children can be solved by organizing family picnic, group trips etc. which will develop the adjustment capacity in children. By above suggestions , educational problems of children of employed parents in a responsive society can be reduced to the great extent.

REFERENCES:

1. Sapra, 2001, Beyond Cognition : Implications for Education, New Delhi, Sage Publications

2. Nagpal, 2001, Effective Instructional Strategies for Cognitive Development, New Delhi, S. Chand & Co.

3. Anand C.L. et. Al. 1983, The Teacher and Education in Emerging Indian Society, New Delhi, NCERT.

4. Safaya, R.N. Shaida, B.D. 1974, Development of Educational Theory and practice, New Delhi, Dhanpat Rai and Sons.

Received on 11.03.2014 Modified on 18.03.2014

Int. J. Rev. & Res. Social Sci. 2(1): Jan. – Mar. 2014; Page 58-60