New JTA President Lauds Partnerships

Newly installed President of the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA), Nadine Molloy has lauded teachers and the partnerships, which have successfully delivered improved Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) results this year.
“Teachers, you have done well in embracing as critical partners, the Ministry of Education with its new curriculum policy shifts; interested parents/guardians and our children. This is true demonstration of what effective partnerships can do,” she said.
Ms. Molloy was speaking yesterday (August 17), at the JTA’s 46th Annual Conference, which is currently underway at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort, in Ocho Rios, St. Ann.
“Your contribution to this country transcends the ordinary and must be recognised as such. We also want to encourage you to be in constant preparation for this truly higher service that you are engaged in,” Ms. Molloy said, noting that the Association was looking forward to even better GSAT results next year.
The three-day conference, which began on August 16, is being held under the theme: ‘Creative Partnerships: Sustaining Educational Opportunities for National Development’.
Focusing on the theme, Ms. Molloy said that it signaled the JTA’s acknowledgement of their critical roles as teachers in the educational landscape. “It also underscores our longstanding commitment to be constantly engaged in all discussions and activities that affect the education system,” she said, noting that the theme would be woven into all of the Association’s activities for the year.
She called on parents and guardians to engage themselves in better parenting habits, urging them to make the school their most important partner.
“Parents, form an unprecedented pact, never before seen in Jamaica, for a new deal with us, your teachers and schools, to build a better Jamaica for our children,” she said.
Turning to the teachers, she called on them to engage in the highest level of professionalism. “The highest level of professionalism is necessary for us to continue to justify keeping our jobs. That must be our first and most significant tool against those who seek to divide us, and for us to attract the type of partnerships and support that we need to engage,” Ms. Molloy said, reinforcing the call for even stronger partnerships where all involved could work diligently and creatively on initiatives that will harness the unused potential that abound in Jamaica.