ST JAMES, Jamaica — Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Senator Marlon Morgan, is urging school leaders to prepare and share annual calendars well in advance to allow parents sufficient time to plan for school activities and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meetings.

Morgan said early communication is especially important for working parents.

“See how best you can put those in place and have them disseminated. For example, when the parents come in for orientation…we are able to give them the proposed calendar of events so that they can more adequately plan for the respective school events because we do not want to countenance the heap of complaints, school leaders, in relation to a parent not being able to make themselves available,” he said.

Morgan was addressing the Region 4 Principals’ Leadership Conference and Appreciation Luncheon 2026, held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James on Thursday.

The senator’s remarks follow public discussion about parental participation in schools following remarks from the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA). At the union’s 62nd annual conference in Trelawny last week, JTA President LaSonja Harrison suggested that the Government consider withholding Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) benefits from parents who do not regularly attend PTA meetings.

In an article published by the Jamaica Observer on Wednesday, the National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ) rejected the proposal. Describing the suggestion as discriminatory, NPTAJ President Stewart Jacobs argued that PATH support is intended to assist citizens and should not be used to hold parents “at ransom”.

He also highlighted the challenges that affect PTA participation, including inconvenient meeting times, lengthy sessions and frequent meetings, which can create barriers for resource-limited parents trying to make ends meet.

READ: Discriminatory or necessary?

Although Morgan did not directly address the PATH proposal on Thursday, he did point to the importance of parents attending PTA meetings.

“We know that people have work obligations that they have to attend to. We know that a parent has a suite of other things that they have to attend to. But we want our parents to be demonstrable partners in education with us and be there and be actively involved in the life of their child. And that is why appearing at the parent consultation sessions, coming to PTA meetings, and so on, is of paramount importance,” he argued.

The senator noted that providing schedules early also gives parents time to seek permission from employers for time away from work, if needed.

“If a parent has to approach their employer to organise for and make provision for time off on a particular day, whether departmental leave or otherwise, they’re in a position, in terms of advance notice, so to do. [It] is very important,” Morgan said.