Education Minister Wycliffe Smith with the conference delegation.
PHILIPSBURG–Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS) Wycliffe Smith attended a regional conference of ministers of education from Latin America and the Caribbean in Cochabamba, Bolivia, July 25-26.
The conference was organised and sponsored by UNESCO. The meetings were convened to discuss the way forward concerning the 2030 education agenda, which is a plan to promote the development and quality of education by the year 2030. Leading up to the two-day ministerial conference, UNESCO had also organised high-level technical meetings for the leadership of departments of education.
Smith and the minister of education of Suriname were the only ministers in attendance at the high-level technical meetings. As a result of attending these meetings, Smith was asked to make a presentation regarding St. Maarten at the plenary session of the ministers of education on Wednesday, July 25. He shared with his colleagues and their support teams “the challenges and struggles that a small twin-island nation is faced with when trying to implement the educational goals set forth by UNESCO in 2015.”
Smith highlighted two major challenges: the lack of human capacity and insufficient funds.
He was joined on a panel by colleague ministers of education Soares da Silva of Brazil and Lopez Rivas of Guatemala.
At the end of the ministerial conference, all ministers signed on to an agreement to be guided by the UNESCO Roadmap 2018-2030, to promote and develop education to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education as well as promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030.
“This will mean adapting local policy and plans and aligning them with the Roadmap. This also means strengthening collaboration between ministries, departments and divisions in order to support and promote the achievement of the 2030 Agenda,” it was stated in a press release on Monday.
Smith also networked and established contact with colleague ministers such as Armando Lampe of Aruba; Lilian Ferrier of Suriname and Michael Brown of Antigua. Smith said he was proud to be able to represent St. Maarten at such a high level and high-powered UNESCO ministerial conference.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/79122-min-smith-attends-unesco-meeting
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