Henry-Wilson
Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter
SYLVESTER ANDERSON was named president of the National Parent Teachers' Association (NPTA) on Friday. Mr. Anderson, who is currently the president of the Meadowbrook High School PTA, has vowed to revamp existing PTAs and see to the establishment of others where they do not exist.
He said that of the over 960 schools in the island, just over 130 were represented at launch of the NPTA and as such, the first order of the day was to get his executive together to see to the establishment of PTAs in schools where there are none.
HOPES
"... We are hoping to be very effective ... through collaboration (with the JTA), we should be able to look at policies as it would affect the running of schools ... introducing ideas we think the Ministry of Education will be able to use to better assist parents in encouraging them to send their children to school," he told journalists at the launch of the NPTA at the Jamaica Conference Centre. According to him, the NPTA should improve the relationship between parents, teachers and students.
The NPTA has been given the mandate to better coordinate and organise PTAs across the island. To this end, Mr. Anderson hopes to have active PTAs across the island within a year. The establishment of the NPTA was among the recommendations of the National Task Force on Education.
Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson in endorsing the new body, called on the members to give critical support to their schools and their children. She also recommended the establishment of a system for the evaluation of schools with parents and teachers having an input in determining the scores.
