Island-wide PTA interest renewed

There has been renewed interest in Parent Teacher Association (PTA) activity across the island.

 

According to President of the Barbados National Council of Parent Teacher Associations Inc. (BNCPTA), Shone Gibbs, the importance of thedomestic PTA’s is more evident to many Principals.

 

“As a result, we have received numerous calls to assist with getting PTA’s up and running,” he told the 2015-2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at The St. Michael School on Saturday night.

 

“This is the first year I can say to you that we have received many calls from principals asking for assistance in reviving PTA’s within their school.

 

“It would suggest to me that more and more persons are recognising the importance of PTA’s within the school system. 

 

Those schools that have strong PTAs can boast of several successes and when they get together at the level of Principals those schools can boast of a lot.”

 

The contribution of PTAs, in direct financial terms, the President observed, is hundreds of thousands of dollars annually, highlighting the contribution that the PTA at Queens College has played, in assisting in the fundraising efforts for a multi-purpose sports 

facility at the School’s St James campus.

 

“The contribution of PTAs to schools is not something that can be scoffed at and that is why I want to suggest to parents that they should take the business of PTAs seriously at the domestic level and at the national level, because if we had to remove the 

contribution of PTA’s from education, I can guarantee you that there would be a cry across Barbados.”

 

Gibbs, re-elected as President of BNCPTA during the AGM stressed that the organisation’s role in strengthening the home-school relationship is becoming more critical to all stakeholders within education.

 

“We as parents and teachers must first do justice by our Association before we can expect others to do so,” he said.

 

Gibbs also reported that the BNCPTA recognised the need to address issues that are germane to primary and secondary schools separately. He disclosed that there were currently several sectorial meetings targeting mainly secondary schools.

 

“We had two meetings with the Ministry of Education and the BSTU respectively to discuss the SBA saga in the early part of the year.“Subsequently, we participated in another two meetings with the Ministry and CXC 

respectively to discuss the CCSLC and the new suite of certificates being offered by the CXC. 

 

Information and materials shared at these meetings with the domestic PTA’s brought clarity to many issues and enabled the domestic leadership to continue to address their constituents in an informed way,” he said.