Education ministers to meet

Wed, May 21st 2014, 08:58 AM

A $2 million price tag has been made available by the government to underwrite the cost of hosting the 19th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (CCEM) in The Bahamas. At the end of the conference, during which the 54 commonwealth states will engage in dialogue on education, it is expected that the states will issue a clear statement on the way forward in education for the next 15 years.
This is the first time that The Bahamas will host the triennial meeting of commonwealth education ministers that will be held June 22-26, 2015 at the Atlantis resort. It will only be the third time the conference is being hosted by a country from the Caribbean region.
According to Minister of Education, Science and Technology Jerome Fitzgerald, two new features have been added to CCEM -- a regional ministerial caucus to be held on June 22 and a small states meeting to be held on June 23. The ministerial caucus will provide ministers with the opportunity to discuss issues of relevance to their region and enable them to address the need to create a balance between politics and policy. The small states meeting will give ministers of education from the 31 small states of the British Commonwealth the chance to discuss critical and problematic issues affecting their countries.
The theme of the 19th CCEM is "Quality Education for Equitable Development: Performance, Paths and Productivity". The meeting will provide opportunities for ministers, senior education officials and other education stakeholders to deliberate on the priority and emerging issues identified by the Commonwealth Ministerial Working Group (established at the 18th conference) as they continue to be reflected in the evolving global framework for development and the economic and social advancement and growth of member states and their citizens.
The specific objectives of the five-day conference are to increase the understanding of commonwealth ministers and senior officials of critical issues in education; provide a forum for the discussion of the issues and the sharing of good practices within the commonwealth; examine barriers to equity, access and quality education and identify key enabling factors to address the issues; gain the momentum of ministers to specific actions identified at the conference; discuss the process for aligning plans and strategies to support the achievement of the new goals and targets of the post-2015-education development framework within the commonwealth's priorities, processes and platforms and discuss and agree on the steps to take forward any new mandates and actions on global issues that resonate with and impact on priority education concerns of the commonwealth.
In addition to the principal ministerial meeting, over the course of the five days a number of other meetings will be held, including a senior officials' meeting, teachers' forum, youth forum and stakeholders' forum.
In addition, the conference will facilitate the exchange of best practice in education and its related fields, promote goodwill and foster mutual respect and cooperation between delegates and member states.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

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