Kingston/Kingstown/Philipsburg- 15 March 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to education in the Caribbean Small Island Developing States. Since the onset of the pandemic, most governments in the Caribbean region have temporarily closed educational institutions, including schools and universities, to contain the spread of the virus. It is against this backdrop that the Caribbean Safe School Initiative (CSSI) Pre-Ministerial Forum is taking place virtually from 15 – 26 March 2021. The Forum provides a platform for education ministers and Permanent Secretaries from across the region, disaster risk reduction professionals, and international and regional stakeholders to advance the regional dialogue on rebuilding the education-resilience nexus and strengthen coordination in the region for regional disaster risk mitigation and management strategies in the context of systemic risk and with a multi-hazard approach.
On March 15, the Caribbean Education Ministers assembled in a closed session to adopt the agenda, outcomes, and objectives of the forum. In the afternoon, the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency, CDEMA, in collaboration with the UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean and the Caribbean Ministries of Education of St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Maarten organized a special session aimed at stimulating dialogue and sharing best practices among the Permanent Secretaries of the Caribbean Ministries of Education.
The session was opened by Dr Saadia Sanchez-Vegas, Director and Representative of the UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean. In her speech, she recalled that the pandemic also serves as a lever to prepare for the uncertainties of future threats - biological or environmental - in order to build more resilient education systems in the Caribbean. In this context, Dr Sanchez-Vegas stressed that protecting the right to education is not only the guarantee of a human right, but must be a key priority in any disaster management policies and responses.
Protecting the right to education is not only the guarantee of a human right, but must be a key priority in any disaster management policies and responses.
In Segment One, moderated by Dr. Faryal Khan, Programme Specialist for Education, UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean, Mr. Jair Torres, Disaster Risk Reduction Advisor from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, UNDRR, explained the Comprehensive School Safety Framework, which is built on the three pillars as a tool for a comprehensive, systemic approach: 1) safe learning facilities 2) school-based disaster management and risk reduction 3) resilience building. In this context, he stressed the importance of coordinating and establishing a systemic approach to disaster risk reduction that involves all sectors throughout the region.
To build on best practices from other Small Island Developing States and foster interregional exchange, Dr. Angeela Jokhan, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education of Fiji shared promising practices of managing the education response to COVID-19 from the Asia-Pacific SIDS, which could be relevant in the context of the Caribbean SIDS.
The Pacific and the Caribbean SIDS faced similar challenges during the COVID-19 crisis. A key aspect of the response was a multi-dimensional inclusive approach that included psycho-social support for students, parents and teachers, taking into consideration the needs of students living with disabilities and students without connection opportunities, as well as condensing the curriculum to fit current realities. Similar to the Caribbean region, Asia-Pacific SIDS are also vulnerable to climate disasters, such as cyclones or typhoons. Dr. Jokhan emphasized the need to not only focus on recovery measures, but to have continuous disaster preparedness in all sectors, learning from past experiences and promote systemic transformation to build systemic resilience.
We must constantly continue to work on preparing for disasters and not only respond to them in the aftermath. This way our societies become more resilient and damage can be mitigated.
After a rich exchange of experiences between the Permanent Secretaries in segment two of the session, Dr. Faryal Khan closed the meeting. In concluding, she highlighted key points, namely the importance of a systemic approach to risk reduction to reach the most vulnerable students, providing psychosocial support, and promoting professional development for teachers. The need for a clear mandate related to resilience in education was reiterated several times, along with the call for clear budget allocations. Dr. Khan emphasized that Intersectoral, inter-ministerial, and international collaboration is seen as critical to preparing for and responding to disasters, particularly with regard to ICT infrastructure and connectivity, funding and resources, and access to educational materials, online and offline.
The Caribbean Safe School Initiative (CSSI) Pre-Ministerial Forum invites government representatives, policy-makers, international development organizations, disaster risk practitioners, educational planners, teachers, and the wide public to attend the technical session in the forthcoming two weeks.
Find all information and Registration via the CSSI 2021 Website here.