CARICOM establishes 5 working groups

A statement from the CARICOM Secretariat said these technical working groups are made up of six key regional experts and one internationally renowned expert who have all volunteered their expertise for the advancement of the region’s Human Resource Development.

The work of the five groups will cover early childhood education, teaching innovations and educational leadership, open and distance learning and the use of Information and Communication Technology in education, external quality assurance/ accreditation and qualifications systems and tertiary education.

The technical working groups will be seeking to carry out a mandate given by the Conference of Heads of Government to develop a Human Resource Development 2030 Strategy which will provide broad direction for developing key transformational initiatives in education and training in the region.

The policies and standards formulated by these technical working groups will to a large extent, focus on ensuring that citizens of the region acquire 21st Century competencies and key skills for the building of resilient economies and societies.

The Groups are led by Chairpersons who are proven regional educational leaders in the areas of emphasis: Professor Compton Bourne (Tertiary Education), Professor Hazel Simmons-Mc- Donald (Open and Distance Learning and ICTs in Education), Dr Ruby Alleyne (External Quality Assurance and Qualifications Systems), Dr Marcia Stewart, (Teaching Innovations and Educational Leadership) and Dr Carol Logie (Early Childhood Education and Development).

Programme Manager- Human Resource Development of the CARICOM Secretariat, Dr. Eduardo Ali, indicated that the policies and standards produced by these groups will go a long way in helping the region achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4- Quality Education because they will be internationally benchmarked in order to regulate the provision of equitable access to quality education and lifelong learning.