Organization of American States (OAS)
OAS Assistant Secretary General Calls for Universal Access to Education
By OAS
Oct 15, 2014 - 10:50:28 PM



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.

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