KINGSTON, Jamaica — As Jamaica prepares to observe Parenting Month during November, Hear The Children’s Cry (HTCC) is proposing that an effective parenting component be added to the three tests currently required for children to qualify under the Primary Exit Profile (PEP).

Long-serving HTCC volunteer and now board member, Nigel Cooper, has congratulated the Ministry of Education and its partners for nearly a quarter century of “positive outreaches” during Parenting Month, while urging that the proposed expansion of the PEP components be seriously considered.

“Thanks in part to Parenting Month initiatives, there are now many textbooks and online resources on parenting — but they still do not adequately prepare you to be a parent,” said Cooper, a senior lecturer at the University of Technology.

“Hear The Children’s Cry believes that the Primary Exit Profile Examination can be used as an effective tool to improve parenting skills and family life. The PEP currently consists of three key components; a performance task, an ability test and a curriculum-based test. We are calling on the Ministry of Education to modify the performance task to include activities that at least one parent and student pair must undertake, and would be graded on,” Cooper said.

“This would support positive parenting and family life. These activities would be done in grade 4 and grade 5, and Hear The Children’s Cry would want to see this change implemented during the 2025 to 2026 school year. We are willing to lead the discussions with the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders. We believe the long term impact of such an intervention would be extremely beneficial to improving family life,” Cooper stated.

HTCC marketing executive Joy Bennett adds that “positive parenting is a challenge for any family, and the difficulties are even harder to overcome for parents raising children in underserved communities, which is the case with so many Jamaicans. Adding guidance with and monitoring of important and helpful aspects of parenting through the primary education system would be a very positive innovation for child care as well as family life,” she said.

Joy Bennett (Photo contributed)

“And as our late founder Betty Ann Blaine would say ‘If you fix the family you will fix Jamaica’. We have too many children having children.”

Both Cooper and Bennett are among a team of nine deeply committed board members guiding and leading the team at HTCC as the lobby group continues established projects and seek opportunities to partner with others on innovative initiatives. The latter includes telephone and in-person counselling for families and children, safety workshops and parenting education in schools and communities.