(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) CARICOM Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Lolita Applewhaite has underscored the critical importance of education in developing human capital and promoting the CARICOM Single Market and Economy.
Delivering remarks at the opening ceremony of 17th Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) yesterday, the Deputy Secretary-General said, people had always been at the heart of the regional integration movement and that the Region’s best response to current global economic and financial crisis was the development of a “well-trained, readily trainable and re-trainable workforce in the Region.” This she opined could only be achieved through the delivery of quality education at all levels.
The two-day COHSOD which opened on 17 November 2008, is meeting under the theme: Accelerating the Implementation of the Education Agenda, and one of its primary aims is to evaluate progress made in education for the past ten years and to devise ways of expediting the education agenda within the Caribbean Community.
Against this background, Ambassador Applewhaite noted that the choice of theme “aptly reflects the recognition that education is, and must continue to be, pivotal in national and regional efforts to sustain and enhance productivity and economic growth as well as social cohesion.” She also outlined some landmark initiatives in the education sector over the past decade which included the establishment of the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network (CKLN) to improve quality tertiary education through technology; the introduction of the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) to facilitate greater movement of skilled persons within the CSME and the achievement of the target of Universal Primary Education.
She noted further that despite the many challenges, the education sector continued to realize its goal of emphasising the need for the provision of education that would ensure a skilled and creative workforce able to hold its own in the new, competitive global environment. According to Ambassador Applewhaite the best way to guarantee the survival of our individual countries, and the Region was to develop educated individuals.
In this regard she challenged the Meeting to “reflect on the role that we each must play. And in the final analysis, let us remember that education not only gives us the knowledge of the world around us but it also develops in us a perspective of looking at life. Indeed the best way to guarantee the survival of our individual countries, and our Region is to develop educated individuals.”
