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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
The
Sixth Regular Meeting of the Inter-American Committee on Education
(CIE) of the Organization of American States (OAS) opened today at the
headquarters of the hemispheric institution in Washington, DC, where the
Assistant Secretary General of the Organization, Albert Ramdin, called
for universal access to quality education.
Assistant Secretary General Ramdin said the promotion of universal
access to inclusive quality education is at the heart of development
policies, adding that one of the main challenges facing the region is
"development and successful implementation of effective public policies
to promote equal opportunity through education.”
One of the main areas of discussion at the meeting is the analysis
of the proposal to build an Inter-American Education Agenda, from a
collaborative and inter-sectorial perspective, defining its lines of
action and the implementation of its mechanisms.
In his address, Ambassador Ramdin recalled that the Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Colombia, Maria Angela Holguin, proposed to member
countries during the last OAS General Assembly, held in June in
Paraguay, the creation of an Inter-American Institute of Education that
has the ability to assist the countries of the region more effectively,
with the participation of all stakeholders, including the private
sector.
Last month, the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza,
announced the appointment of Ambassador Ramdin to lead the technical
evaluation for the formulation of the proposed establishment of an
institution to accompany the Hemisphere’s states on public policy
education, and, if necessary, the proposal will be submitted to the OAS
General Assembly.
In this regard, Ambassador Ramdin announced that in the coming
days he will establish a Working Group to draw up a concrete proposal on
the subject, and subsequently he will inform the Inter-American Council
for Integral Development (CIDI) about the "objectives, the approach and
the working plan" of the Working Group.
The Chair of the CIDI and the Permanent Representative of Trinidad
and Tobago to the OAS, Neil Parsan, stressed that education is a key
sector for achieving the goal of development, and recalled that the CIDI
has been working on promoting a series of mechanisms focused on
knowledge transfer among member states.
Ambassador Parsan also said that during previous ministerial
meetings on Education, "member states have recognized education as a
fundamental human right," and recalled that the value of education is
also recognized by the Inter-American Democratic Charter and the Social Charter of the Americas, which "both reflect the importance of our topic today."
The Minister for Education and Community Development of Suriname
and Chair of the Inter-American Committee on Education (CIE), Ashwin
Adhin, said that education should be the "main response" of the
implementation of the development agenda in the region.
At another point in his speech, Minister Adhin recalled that
Article 16 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter states that:
“Education is key to strengthening democratic institutions, promoting
the development of human potential, and alleviating poverty and
fostering greater understanding among our peoples. To achieve these
ends, it is essential that a quality education be available to all,
including girls and women, rural inhabitants, and minorities”.
For her part, Marie Levens, the OAS Director of the Department of
Human Development, Education and Employment, which acts as Technical
Secretariat of the CIE, welcomed all the participants and stated that
education should serve as a channel to provide equality between people
across the Hemisphere, and added that young people must be better
educated, so that they are capable of creating new job opportunities and
new opportunities to achieve their dreams.
The CIE is the mechanism for ongoing ministerial dialogue in the
Inter-American environment, responsible for developing and monitoring
the mandates, commitments and action plans established by the Ministers
of Education, consistent with the mandates of the Summits of the
Americas. Panama offered to host the Seventh Meeting of Ministers of
Education.
The meeting, which ends
tomorrow,
Wednesday October 15,
features the participation of the Ministers of Education of Trinidad
and Tobago, Tim Gopeesingh; of Panama, Marcela Paredes de Vásquez; Costa
Rica, Sonia Mora Escalante; as well as various Permanent
Representatives and Deputy Ministers of Education of member countries,
among other delegates.
For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.
© Copyright 2014 by thebahamasweekly.com
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