SENATOR Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday stressed the need to institutionalize a program that will better equip parents to meet the learning needs of their children.

Gatchalian filed Senate Bill 1985 or the Parent Effectiveness Service Program Act that aims to empower parents and parent-substitutes to provide quality care during the critical stages of learners’ development.

The PES program will also provide parents with socio-emotional support as families continue to struggle with the impact of the Covid19 pandemic.

There will be parent effectiveness sessions in every barangay to be facilitated by psychologists, other health professionals, social workers and paraprofessionals. These will provide modules on the roles and needs of parents and parent-substitutes, child development, home management, building the child’s positive behavior, and keeping a healthy environment, among others.

Gatchalian said that since children are more vulnerable to mental health issues after a yearlong school shutdown and home confinement, and the remote learning setup poses a challenge to their access to psychosocial support, parents have to step up to support the learners, making them more prone to exhaustion.

The lawmaker stressed that parents should be given support because they also have to work on top of aiding their children in their learning.

“Bagama’t mahalaga ang papel ng ating mga magulang sa pagpapatuloy ng edukasyon at sa pangangalaga sa mental health ng mga kabataan sa panahon ng pandemya, hindi naman maaaring ipasa natin sa kanila ang lahat ng gawain, lalo na’t marami sa kanila ang naghahanapbuhay din at nakakaranas ng pagod,” Gatchalian said.