PTA Council urges Parents to Support Their Children’s Education

The General Secretary of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) Council, Raphael Kofi Gapson says development in education is a shared responsibility and as such parents must partake in the education of their wards.

He noted that “the government alone cannot shoulder the education of children and this is why the PTAs exist”, indicating, that the public schools should be given the best support to operate at their maximum capacity.

Mr Gapson was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Central Regional Conference of the PTA in Cape Coast, which saw the election of the regional executives.

It was held on the theme; “Repositioning PTAs To Enhance the quality of Pre-tertiary Education in Ghana”.

”The PTAs operations have slowed down and it’s not operating at its optimum level”, the General Secretary lamented.

He maintained that the Parent Teacher Association which was changed to Parents Association due to the free SHS brought a lot of administrative challenges to the PTA.

“After the restoration of the PTA by the Education Minister, it was made an autonomous body that works in partnership with GES to make sure students get the best of interventions. We thought there’s a need to convene a conference across the country to tell our people our operational policies and administrative roles, what we expect from them and how best they can mobilize PTA funds to support the administration of the schools”, Mr Gapson explained.

Adding, “we want to make parents more responsible and assertive and make sure that both parents and the schools work together to achieve results. Hence, the need for resource mobilization and support to ensure that the schools get maximum attention”.

He indicated that “PTA dues are for the interest of nation building, as they help the development of schools, such as building classroom facilities among others to support schools”.

“When students were made to pay fees, the PTA dues were there so if the school fees has been scrapped, it is more appropriate for parents to pay PTA dues to support the schools”.

The General Secretary of the PTA Council thus called for the need to collaborate in a bid to ensure proper education for students

The Central Regional PTA Chairman elect, Emmanuel Sam Odoom, indicated that PTA had gone through a lot of changes, hence, the theme; “Repositioning PTAs To Enhance the quality of Pre-tertiary Education in Ghana”.

”We want PTAs to be feasible and we want people to know our name is PTA and not PA. When we come together, our children will benefit and it’ll enhance education”.

He called on stakeholders in education to join hands to develop the education system of the country.