Chair of the 48th Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD) – Education and Grenada’s Minister of Education, Senator the Honourable David Andrew, says now is the time for education transformation and reshaping the sector to be resilient against current challenges. He highlighted adapting to changing technology, the need for education transformation and the threat of climate change as some of the critical areas of focus for the sector.
As he referenced climate change’s impact on education, the Chair stated that Grenada is rebuilding and/or repairing 15 schools that experienced varying levels of damage due to Hurricane Beryl’s passage on 1 July and expressed solidarity with other Member States recovering from Beryl’s destruction.
He advocated for regional collaboration to transform the education system into one that is resilient to the impact of climate change and offers better opportunities and outcomes for the People of the Caribbean Community.
Please read his speech below.
48TH MEETING OF the
Council for Human and Social Development – Education
Sen. The Hon David Andrew
Minister of Education, Grenada,
Chair’s Remarks
Salutations,
- My Colleague Education Ministers from across the Caribbean, with a special acknowledgement to our host minister, The Honourable Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Minister of Education, Trinidad and Tobago
- Ms Elizabeth Solomon, Assistant Secretary General, Foreign Policy and Community Relations and the Officer-in-Charge of the Directorate of Human and Social Development;
- Mrs Helen Royer, Director, Human Development, CARICOM Secretariat;
- Permanent Secretaries, Chief Education Officers and other Delegates from Member States;
- Mr Davion Leslie, Programme Manager, Human Resource Development, CARICOM Secretariat;
- Dr Densie Stoney-James, Deputy Programme Manager, Education, CARICOM Secretariat;
- Other Delegates, Partners and special invitees,
Good morning!
It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the 48th Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development – Education. I bring you greetings from the Prime Minister of Grenada and the current Chair of the Caribbean Community, the Honorable Dickon Mitchell.
I want to place on record my appreciation for the work my colleague, Minister Octavia Alfred, and her team from Dominica did as the Chair of COHSOD for the period that has just now come to an end. Minister Alfred, I look forward to your continued support.
I am thrilled to accept the invitation to serve as the Chair of the Council for Human and Social Development (Education) for the next 11 months. I have spent much of my adult life involved in education – including 10 years as a classroom teacher. As a father of 3 children, a trained teacher, and a patriotic citizen of the Caribbean Community, I am highly invested in the advancement of education in the Region. I am excited, therefore, to have the opportunity, provided through this chairmanship, to help shape the development of the Region’s education sector.
I express thanks to my Permanent Secretary, Elvis Morain, who from all reports ably executed the chairmanship of the Officials Meeting last week and I also extend my commendation to all the Officials who had robust discussion on the agenda items and I look forward to addressing their recommendations.
Thanks also to the CARICOM Secretariat Team for the support already provided to PS Morain in the capacity of Chairman.
Colleague Ministers, when I look at the agenda for today’s meeting, I am seized with a deep sense of urgency. I wish to use my remarks this morning to recommend the same urgency to you.
The agenda invites us to discuss consequential issues such as the management of education data in the Region, the acceleration of the digital transformation in the education system, and the revision of the CARICOM HRD 2030 Strategy. These are all critical lines of action that, if done right, can fundamentally reshape the structure of the Region’s education system. This Meeting gives us an opportunity to initiate and advance action-focused exchanges to create a more resilient, relevant and responsive education system.
The urgency of reshaping our education system is further intensified by the opportunities presented by the ubiquity of technology, the acceleration of education transformation and the increased awareness of the existential threat of climate change.
The urgent challenge we have in this Meeting is developing an answer to the question, “how do we ensure that our education system is responding to the immediate realities that we face?” I ask this question as an Education Minister who is now rebuilding and/or repairing 15 schools that experienced varying levels of damage due to the passage of Hurricane Beryl on 1 July. And I know, each Ministry of Education across the Region is grappling with similar challenges.
Given this, now is surely an opportune time to transform our education system into one that has greater levels of resilience and into one that delivers lessons that create a climate-aware citizenry. I am optimistic that decisions we will make in this Meeting will serve to secure these and other important outcomes.
So, colleagues, this is our opportunity to meet the moment with the urgency that it deserves. This is our opportunity to create legacy in the way that it matters most – by securing a safe and prosperous future for our children. Ministers, we have an ambitious agenda ahead of us and I ask you for your support through robust discussion on the items for this Meeting, but more than that, I ask you for your commitment as we work to advance the Region’s education system
