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Education Minister Hails NPSC as Catalyst for Social Change

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JIS: Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, has hailed the National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC) as a catalyst for social change in Jamaica.

 

The Minister, who was speaking at the NPSC’s Mentorship Programme graduation ceremony, held at the Jewel Dunn’s River Beach Resort & Spa in St. Ann on Tuesday (July 31), said the Commission has been playing a key role in social change by re-enforcing the need for good parenting practices in the country.

 

“It is catalytic, because we have been promoting the importance and efficacy of parenting and holistic education, [while] understanding how we prepare ourselves to become parents in the same instance,” the Minister said.

 

According to Senator Reid, the country’s battle with crime and violence largely had its genesis with the breakdown of families, and, as such, he is encouraging struggling parents to seek help from the requisite government agencies instead of “falling prey to their circumstances”.

 

He added that his Ministry, in a collaborative way, is establishing brain-builder centres in every constituency across the island to offer additional support to parents.

 

“If we can provide support through the National Parenting Support Commission for those who are poor and vulnerable, through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security’s PATH programme…. [then] we have to work to make sure that all our children are getting an equally good start, equally good nurturing and caring environment,” he said.

 

In the meanwhile, he lauded the graduates for their commitment and reassured them that they are needed in the field to ensure that all is being done to support the holistic development of the nation’s children, and that parents are playing their part to facilitate this development.

 

Some 42 volunteer parent mentors graduated from the Mentorship programme, which has become the flagship programme of the NPSC. It is a volunteer-based programme that offers 10 modules in effective parenting.

 

The graduates represent the fourth cohort of parents who have been trained under the programme, dubbed ‘From Street Talk, to Real Talk’.

 

 CAPTION: Minister of Education, Youth, and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid. (File)