The Honourable Jerome Roberts, Minister responsible for Education attended the OECS Ministers of Education Meeting from 14 to 16th October 2013. Mr Roberts was accompanied by Permanent Secretary Mrs Chanelle Petty Barrett. The meeting was presided over by Dr Jacqui Quinn Leandro, Minister of Education of Antigua and Barbuda, and attended by Ministers of Education and senior education officials from across the OECS.
After a culturally rich Opening Ceremony on the 14thOctober, the meeting continued with one and a half days of intense deliberations on matters of mutual concern to the member countries. Presenters at the meeting included Mr Marcellus Albertin, Head of the OECS Education Development Management Unit (EDMU) who gave an overview of the state of education in the OECS and presented the OECS Education Sector Strategy 2012 to 2021 under the theme “Every Learner Succeeds”. It is anticipated at all OECS countries will eventually align their national plans with the OECS Sector Strategy. Other presenters included Dr Jennifer Obidah, of the UWI School of Education, Mr Glenroy Cumberbatch, Pro-Registrar of CXC, Dr Patricia George of Antigua and Barbuda, Dr Martin Baptiste of the Caribbean Development Bank, as well as representatives of UNESCO, CARICOM, UNICEF and the Commonwealth of Learning.
Some of the key commitments madeby Ministers included:
• Continuing with piloting the Caribbean Primary Exit Assessment (CPEA) programme as appropriate in their respective countries and for those who have completed piloting toimplement the CPEA in the medium to long term.
• Discussing with the technical officers at Ministries of Education issues related to the Caribbean Certification of Secondary Level Competence (CCSLC) examination including the associated costs, and deciding whether the CCSLC should be compulsory or discretionary.
• Exploring options for increasing the percentage of teachers specializing in mathematics through teacher training programmes (in service training, mentoring, incentives). Ministers also endorsed focus group meetings in Mathematics in OECS facilitated by CXC andCXC’s efforts towards the introduction of SBAs in English and Mathematics.
• Adopting the Child Friendly Schools framework for implementation in member states.
• Continuing work related to Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Policy review and development in the OECS; the conceptualization of skills development and improvement in monitoring and evaluation.
• Training for National Accreditation Boards geared towards strengthening capacity to evaluate and assess foreign qualifications.
• Focussing on administrative data strengthening and the call for stakeholders to work together with the EDMU in rolling it out to all the member countries.
In considering the relationship between UWI and national community colleges, Ministers noted various options presented by UWI and encouragedmeetings among Governments, colleges and UWI to discuss the way forward.
The meeting proved to be very productive and it was an excellent opportunity for Ministers to share not only challenges but successes. As a sub-region it is important for countries to work collaboratively and to learn from each other, and this meeting served this purpose well. It is anticipated that next year’s meeting will be hosted by the Government of St Lucia.
Honourable Jerome Roberts
Minister of Education
7th November 2013
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
