Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) across the Caribbean have embraced the formation of a Regional Parent-Teacher Association (RPTA), a new initiative spearheaded by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
The RPTA will focus on several key objectives, including promoting cooperation among national PTAs, facilitating direct communication with Ministries of Education and other government authorities, building strategic alliances with governments on educational matters, and advocating for improvements in the regional education system to positively impact the welfare of students, teachers, and parents.
At a recent stakeholder engagement session hosted by CXC, over 30 PTA representatives and parent advocate groups from across the region unanimously agreed to support the initiative.
“Our hearts are full for this proposal for a Regional PTA, we are elated and ready to bring the work on the constitution to a conclusion,” declared Zena Ramatali, the 1st Vice President of the Trinidad and Tobago National Council of PTAs (TTNPTA) to the online gathering.
Her sentiments were shared by her colleague TTNPTA President, Walter Stewart, the General Secretary of the National PTA of Jamaica, Everton Hannam, and other parent representatives at the stakeholder meeting drawn from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Guyana, Montserrat, Saint Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Kitts and Nevis, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
The parent representatives welcomed the opportunity to advance relationship-building with the regional examination and awarding body, and to learn more about the governing protocols and mechanisms to channel their ideas into the policymaking levels of CXC.
“There are well-established structures for National Parent-Teacher Associations (NPTAs) to share their ideas with their respective Ministries of Education, which relate directly to the policymaking mechanisms of CXC,” affirmed Registrar and CEO of CXC, Dr Wayne Wesley.
“CXC is highly supportive of the creation of a regional PTA to create another avenue for parental perspectives to be incorporated into the regional decision and policymaking process. We hold the view that the voice of the parent is critical to the education and learning process.”
Dr Martin Baptiste, the CDB’s Division Chief, Social Sector, told the PTA representatives and advocates that the Bank is highly invested in the human capital development of the region.
“The value of parental input in the regional development process is, without question, of vital importance, and is a key factor in our considerations at the CDB,” said Dr Baptiste. “We are ready to work with the parental associations of the region to bring about this Regional Parent-Teacher Association as a key step forward, and we are happy to collaborate with CXC to make this happen,” noted Dr Baptiste.
Dr Baptiste also indicated that CDB, in collaboration with partners, is advancing plans to co-host the Second Transforming Education Symposium and Policy Dialogue in Barbados in September 2025, with a focus on the parents of the region, including the formation and start-up of the Regional PTA.
The Symposium & Policy Dialogue will include a training and development workshop for the national PTAs and PTA representatives with the key outcome of formulating a final constitution for the regional PTA from existing work led by the National PTAs of Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and Jamaica.
