Friday, December 16, 2022 — The 10th OECS Annual Meeting of Chief Education Officers/Directors and Education Planners was held from December 6-9, 2022, in Martinique, under the theme, “OECS Education – A Decennium of Partnerships and Collaboration.” The meeting, which took a hybrid format was hosted in collaboration with Collectivité Territoriale Martinique (CTM) and Académie de Martinique. This annual forum is a continuation of efforts by the OECS Commission to address the challenges facing educational institutions in the region.
According to Mrs. Sisera Simon, Programme Director of the OECS Education Development Management Unit (EDMU), “This year’s meeting sets the foundation for building a stronger knowledge bridge in the region through collaborative problem-solving, successful change management, and data-driven decision making.”
The key recommendations from the meeting were:
- To develop a Child Online Protection Policy Framework and Strategy, which would seek to protect children online. This would also include the establishment of a Child Online Protection Committee and the launch of a Child Online Protection awareness campaign.
- To increase access to higher education throughthe inclusion of a regional approach to internships in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET). This would give consideration for the creation of a task force to develop a strategy that would present Université des Antilles (UA) as a tertiary education option for Caribbean students.
- To strengthen data collection and access through a regional Education Management Information System (EMIS) to inform decision making. This access to data will facilitate improved decision-making to address issues facing the education system.
- To increase opportunities for professional development for building teachers’ capacity and to drive change.
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