National PTA launches website

The executive of the National Parent Teachers Association is calling on hoteliers and other stakeholders to partner with the organisation to realise its objective of building its headquarters at Carlsen Field. In 1995, prime minister George Chambers gave the NPTA some 20,000 square feet of land there for that purpose, but funds for the building are still to be sourced.

The call for partnership was made yesterday by NPTA president Raffiena Ali-Boodoosingh and first vice president Clarance Mendoza at the launch of the association’s website. The launch was held at the Ministry of Education, Port of Spain. The website is at www.tntnpta.org

Giving a brief on the website, its creator, public relations officer Keron Maurice, said its goals include communicating with parents and teachers, educating its members, strengthening partnerships and sharing up-to-date information with the media and the rest of the national, regional and international community. It also has interactive features.

Mendoza, who is also the head of the land and building committee, told Newsday the NPTA’s objective is to partner with hoteliers to construct a building that will accommodate not only its headquarters, but an international hotel on a leased basis. He said since the land was handed over to the NPTA, there had been several land and building committees but no action was taken to move forward with the project.

The current executive, which took office in late October last year, is hoping to start construction in 2019, Mendoza said. Ali-Boodoosingh said there is no international hotel in the Chaguanas area and with recent developments taking place in central Trinidad, she said, one such facility will fill the breach in the area while providing accommodation for the NPTA. “We are leaving nothing to chance,” she said, as the construction of an international hotel during a period when the country is experiencing a contraction in the economy could be a boost. Plans for the NPTA headquarters, she said, include a daycare facility and a homework centre, and she is confident the NPTA will get the construction completed with the right partnerships. At present the NPTA is housed at the Priority Mall in San Juan.