The 19th triennial Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (19CCEM) opened Tuesday in Nassau, Bahamas.
The 19th triennial Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (19CCEM) opened Tuesday in Nassau, Bahamas with a call to ‘act now’ to ensure education goals are prioritised and adequately funded.
Susan Hopgood, President of Education International, which represents 30 million education employees globally, told Ministers and delegates: “We need to raise awareness, collaborate, mobilise and organise to get everyone to support our vision of transforming lives through education.”
In her keynote address, Ms Hopgood cited next month’s International Financing for Development meeting in Addis Ababa and the upcoming UN High Level Plenary on the Sustainable Development Goals, as opportunities for action.
“What can we do all together to ensure that the Addis Ababa summit delivers a robust financing framework with specific commitments and benchmarks? How can we ensure that at the UN General Assembly in September our governments adopt a sustainable development agenda that meets the needs of all people and those of the planet?” she asked.
Over 800 delegates from across the Commonwealth’s six regions are attending the week-long meeting, which will focus on quality education for equitable development. The CCEM is the largest Commonwealth ministerial meeting and includes four parallel forums, covering youth, civil society, teachers and stakeholders. It was officially opened by the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Christie. In his welcome, he called for a greater emphasis to be placed on education: “Not merely at the policy level but to ensure that policies become real, and are enacted. Too often, policies look good on paper but do not translate into substantive action.”
The opening ceremony was attended by the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, Dame Marguerite Pindling and other eminent guests, including the Governor-General of St Lucia, Dame Pearlette Louisy; the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill; and Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyidden Yassin.
In his welcome address, Jerome Fitzgerald, Minister of Education, Science and Technology of The Bahamas described the conference as “an awesome opportunity to chart the course of education for the 53 countries that comprise the Commonwealth.”
Kamalesh Sharma, Commonwealth Secretary-General drew attention to the large number of Commonwealth organisations, professional associations, and other partners working in the field of education. “These organisations combine to offer rich sources of expertise and experience, and immense potential for us to achieve even more impressive outcomes and contributions.
“This distinctive Commonwealth characteristic, of connection and interaction between the governments, institutions, and people of our member states, sets the Commonwealth apart among international communities,” he said.
The 19CCEM provides a unique opportunity for ministers to discuss issues affecting member countries from both regional and global perspectives. The meeting will consider and elaborate on the policy, practice and strategic actions required to respond to the new development goals while exploring trends and innovative practices in Commonwealth education.
Discussions will cover a range of educational issues focusing on quality, teaching and learning, teacher development and performance, skills and paths that meet both the dynamic needs of learners especially the youth, global qualification standards, ICT integration in education and training, opportunities for economic growth and investment, and the overall quality of education across the Commonwealth.
