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OAS Assistant Secretary General, Minister of Education and Deputy Foreign Minister of Panama Inaugurated Meeting of Ministers of Education of the Americas

The Assistant Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), Albert Ramdin, the Minister of Education of Panama, and Chair of the Inter-American Committee on Education of the OAS, Marcela Paredes de Vásquez; and the Deputy Foreign Minister of Panama, Luis Miguel Hincapié, today inaugurated the Eighth Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education, taking place until tomorrow in Panama City.

Assistant Secretary General Ramdin, speaking on behalf of the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, highlighted the importance of the meeting as “a place for political dialogue to promote educational development as a means to attain more democratic and prosperous societies with social justice for everyone.” Ambassador Ramdin highlighted that, from this perspective, the event, which has as its central theme “Building an Inter-American Education Agenda: Education with Equity for Prosperity,” represents “a historic opportunity.”

“At the OAS we are aware of the need for education that transforms our children, adolescents and young people with creativity, innovation and collaboration, so that they themselves can respond to the changing global environment and can serve as bridges for our generations, cultures and nations,” said Ambassador Ramdin, who added that “in the quest for this objective we must not underestimate the great impact of this space for hemispheric dialogue on education in the framework of the OAS.”

The senior OAS official said the central theme of the meeting highlights the central issues that currently have the greatest impact on the educational systems of the region: “quality, equality and inclusion in education; teacher training and professional development; and comprehensive attention to early childhood education.” Addressing these challenges, said Ambassador Ramdin, is the goal of the construction of the Agenda, which represents “a necessary step toward a new vision of education.”

The meeting assumes even greater importance, emphasized Ramdin, due to the fact it takes place just weeks before the Summit of the Americas, which will bring together the Heads of State and Government of the 35 countries of the Hemisphere in April in Panama. “This meeting is historic,” said Ramdin, because for the first time in the context of the Summits of the Americas, the President of the host country has granted education a key role in his vision for the Summit.

For her part, the Minister of Education of Panama, Marcela Paredes de Vásquez, said “dialogue and cooperation open the way for us to understand and reflect on our starting points, the strong points and challenges we have as institutions and countries. To understand and reflect upon what works, what does not, what can be replicated, how we can adapt promising practices; as well as learning where we stand, where we want to go, how to better invest our resources to adapt them to the needs of children´s education in the 21st century.”

In her conclusion, Minister Paredes de Vásquez committed “to deepen the equality in our relationships and integrate our resources and knowledge to transform the educational destiny of our nations, so that our children can continue to have, as we had, not only the possibility of a life with dignity, or of living in a better country or world; but also so that millions of them have this opportunity that we have, to make decisions, come to these events, sit in these seats, get to know other cultures and perspectives, and above all, represent their peoples with pride.”

The Deputy Foreign Minister of Panama, Luis Miguel HIncapié, agreed with the Assistant Secretary General that the importance of the event is owed not only to the possibility of debating the problems and challenges facing the agenda of education, but also the fact that the ministers will be charged with “recommending to the Presidents and Heads of State of the Americas the most important proposals and commitments for the building of an Inter-American Educational Agenda.” “I trust that the recommendations you make can project, better than intentions and concerns, a political will that translates into a new effort to bring the peoples of the Americas together, through cooperation and the achievement of prosperity through education with quality and equality,” said the Deputy Foreign Minister.

Hincapié announced the launching of the Forum of Chancellors of the Americas, which will analyze “the challenges of cooperation to achieve prosperity through higher education.” The Forum, which will be held on April 9 and 10 in the framework of the Seventh Summit of the Americas, will bring together some 400 chancellors from across the region to analyze and make recommendations “on academic mobility; taking advantage of technology and innovation to improve university education and research in the region; and how university research can contribute to entrepreneurship and sustainable economic development.”

The Eighth Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education of the Americas brings together the Minister of Education of the region to discuss the theme “Building an Inter-American Education Agenda: Education with Equity for Prosperity.” Specifically, the ministers will receive a report on the work of the Inter-American Committee on Education from 2012 to 2014 and discuss the following issues: quality, equity and inclusion in education; teacher education and professional development; comprehensive early childhood education care; mechanisms for building an Inter-American Education Agenda; cooperation practices in building the agenda; and different perspectives on an institutional framework for education in the Inter-American system.

The closing of the event will feature Minister Paredes de Vásquez and the Executive Secretary for Integral Development of the OAS, Sherry Tross.

The event's agenda is available here. More information on the Ministerial Meeting is available here.

A gallery of photos of the event is available here.

For more information, please visit the OAS Website at www.oas.org.

Reference: E-024/15