Giving Compass' Take:

• India Development Review discusses the issues low-income parents and guardians face in engaging with their children's education due to a lack of resources and peer networks.

• These problems apply to many different countries, including the U.S. What can nonprofits and funders do to help? How could home visits work into the equation?

• Here's why many kids and parents feel left behind in education reforms.

Neha is a first-generation learner. Her mother, Hema, a maid, wants her only daughter to grow up to become a government servant. This, according to her, will give her family security, stable water and electricity connections, and also an attached toilet, apart from a better living environment.

The odds though, are stacked against Neha given the inter-generational nature of poverty, and the poor developmental outcomes that families like hers face. Unsurprisingly, despite Hema’s high aspirations, Neha isn’t performing well in school. She faces issues that most first generational learners face — poor academic achievement, an inferiority complex, lack of initiative, maladjustment, and an underdeveloped personality. Their poor performance in school is usually caused by an array of issues: lack of motivation, lack of support at home, their work outside home for income generation, being some examples.

“Whatever I do, she just isn’t able to cope. One day I got so angry that I tore her copy and threw it in the dustbin. Then I realized that it wasn’t Neha I was angry at. It was I who had failed her. I don’t know what else to do apart from sending my child to school”, contemplates Hema.

A majority of classrooms in more than eight lakh primary schools in India face this situation on a day to day basis. To do justice to the needs of these children: teachers and the school system need parents to be able partners. But parents like Hema, often find the environment at school completely alien. This presents a significant barrier in their communication with the school.

Read the full article about educating children and parents in India by Seemant Dadwal at India Development Review.