JIS: Jamaica in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will host the International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA) in Montego Bay, St. James, from June 30 to July 1.
Education Ministers, Permanent Secretaries and senior education experts from 14 Caribbean countries will gather at Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall Hotel, to participate in the CONFINTEA VI Sub-Regional Follow-up Meeting for the Caribbean, under the theme ‘Enhancing Lifelong Learning Opportunities for Youth and Adults’.
Speaking in an interview with JIS News on June 29, Director of Education Services at the Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning, Dr Grace-Camille Munroe said that this is the first time that a meeting of this kind is being held in this region.
She explained that coming out of the CONFINTEA VI, held in Belém do Pará Brazil in December 2009, UNESCO developed the Belém Framework of Action which is the monitoring framework that guides adult education across the world.
Dr. Munroe said that the Jamaica meeting is seen as the Caribbean component to what was held in Brazil and will be used to see what progress has been made as a part of what is called a global report on adult learning and education.
She noted that coming out of the ‘Education for all Platform’, adult education was given its own right as part of what would be considered a critical component in the education system.
Partners from UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning in Hamburg, Germany, will also participate in the conference to provide guidance on the expected outcomes of the conference.
Meanwhile, Dr. Munroe said the conference aims to get a status report on what progress the region has made on the elements of the framework such as policy; governance; financing; participation; inclusion and equity; monitoring and evaluation and partnership.
The participating countries are Jamaica, Grenada, Anguilla, Dominica, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Guyana, St. Maarten, and Suriname.
The Jamaican delegation will include representatives from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFLL), University of Technology (UTech), University of the West Indies (UWI) and civil society. Minister of Education Youth and Information, Senator, the Hon. Ruel Reid and State Minister, Hon. Floyd Green are scheduled to address the conference.
CAPTION:
Senator Ruel Reid, Minister of Education, Youth and Information