Parents told retool for 21st Century students

She said: “The NPTA is beaming with pride and joy as we celebrate fifty-six years of existence in Trinidad and Tobago.

“And today we are very happy to have two Ministers of Education at our launch at the Education Ministry.

That has never happened before,” after which she turned to the ministers and thanked them with a big smile.

Earlier she re-branded the purpose of the PTA from a perception of a fund-raising organisation to one that empowers members, reminding all of its motto: Home and School United for the Good of the Child.

She said: “As we reflect on our theme for 2016 (for their PTA week November 2 to 12), ‘Retooling Parents for the 21st Century Child’ it is important that parents acquire the skills to support, monitor, advocate and to develop the art of conversation with their children.” She explained: “It is indicative that it is a partnership between home and school, that this kind of partnership will engender the type of relationship bonding that will keep students close to school and will prevent them from turning to a life of violence and crime.” Ramatali added: “All stakeholders must continue to work together to deal with the challenging issues facing our school system.” Garcia pledged the support for the NPTA of his ministry stating that they recognise the valuable role NPTA plays in the education system in this country, noting that no one group can do it alone.

He said: “I have always been championing this cause. We at the Ministry of Education cannot do it alone or by ourselves.

“We need the active involvement of our stakeholders and parents.

“The NPTA constitutes one of our major stakeholders and we find it necessary to hold hands and to improve our educational system. We are happy to work with dedicated and committed workers of the NPTA.” He also said Ramatali and her administrators have been very supportive of the ministry, and that the two have gone past the days when there was conflict between them, and thanked her for that.

He stated: “We have been working together for the last 14 months, closely collaborating with them in almost everything that we do and we will continue along this road.” Speaking on the theme “Home and School United for the Good of the Child”, he said: “To me this is a most appropriate theme because there are so many changes that are occurring in the education system and those changes require parents, so that they can assist their children at best. It is important that parents retool themselves so that they will be abreast of exactly all the changes that are taking place in the education system and that will allow them much better ability to assist their children.” He closed vowing to give active support to the unit PTAs, and urged parents and teachers of schools without a PTA to join hands as it is important for them to work in collaboration.

Francis, in his remarks, said: “Students, regardless of level have a greater chance of achieving academic success when their parents are involved in their education.” He added: “The critical factor that most significantly impacts on students’ ability to succeed is the quality of parenting. So it will be remiss of us that as a ministry if we didn’t make some sort of transformation in our education system.

“Anything that works to wards improving the quality of education in our schools and hereby improving the kind of young citizens that we produce because of that, works to the benefit of the ministry and the nation.” Chief Education Officer Harrilal Seecharan also spoke of parental engagement in the lives of their children, as well as the theme which he said looks at empowering parents with skills for the 21st century, given the different issues and challenges with which students now face. He said: “The NPTA is on the ball in terms of retooling parents, provding them with the necessary skills for the needs of our 21st century students,” before he too pledged to work closely with the NPTA towards moving the education system forward.