PTAs Being Empowered to Support Children

President of the National Parent Teachers’ Association (NPTA) of Jamaica, Miranda Sutherland, has said that the organization is empowering Parent Teachers’ Associations (PTA) to give more support to children.
“We are doing all that we can to ensure that all the PTAs begin to take their role more seriously, more than just raising funds,” she stated.
Mrs. Sutherland, who was speaking at a ceremony held recently in St. Catherine to honour outstanding parents, said that there are plans to implement several training programmes for parents and children and called on the PTAs to support these training sessions.
Additionally, the President said the Association will shortly be launching a Best Parent Teachers’ Association Competition, which will begin in the parishes of St. Catherine and Clarendon. “We have a list of criteria that we will shortly be announcing,” she informed.
A total of 170 parents from St. Catherine and Clarendon were honoured for commendable parenting skills at the award function held at the New Testament Church Convention Centre in Old Harbour.
It was organized by the Ministry of Education’s Region 6 in collaboration with the Coalition for Better Parenting and the NPTA, as part of activities to mark Parent Month in November.
Two of the honourees, President of the Denbigh High School PTA, Sharon Irons Francis and Vere Technical High School PTA President, Frederick Bryan, were named the most outstanding male and female parents of the region.
They each received weekends for two at the Bahia Principe Hotel in Runaway Bay, St Ann. Certificates were presented to 25 other outstanding parents.