The Virgin Islands is hosting and participating in the CARICOM Consultation for the 2030 Human Resource Development Strategy and Action Plan.

The draft strategy is being shared with representatives from Anguilla, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and the Virgin Islands. The various sectors being represented include health, education, labour, media, youth, sports and human resources.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Culture, Dr. Marcia Potter said the ministry is pleased to host the consultation to finalise the draft strategy which will help students in the Caribbean region compete globally.

Deputy Programme Manager – Education, CARICOM Secretariat Ms. Patricia McPherson, gave an overview of the strategy, and stated, “The region must come together to form some degree of cohesion as we seek to develop the region, for the students of the 21^st century.”

She said, “When we prepare our students in our respective countries, we don’t only prepare them for that local environment…whether sub-regional or regional environment, but we are competing in a global context.”

Ms. McPherson further added, “When [CARICOM has] a request for projects, as a region we have persons [sending proposals] from India, Japan and Singapore - and that’s the reality in which we are preparing our children…The world is now a global context [allowing persons from all over the world to] participate.”

CARICOM Secretariat Consultant, Dr. Nancy George emphasised that students today learn differently from the students in the past, highlighting that today’s teacher must recognise and adapt the changes needed to help students learn.

Dr. George said, “An education system that teaches children to ‘suck up’ information and regurgitate it on examinations is not preparing children for the 21^st century.”

She highlighted the need for students to have various skills including information and communications technology, problem solving and design, critical thinking, communications, multilingual and mathematical literacy skills, and added that students should know themselves, and manage change, among other skills.

The consultant explained that presently in the region, academic success is based on how well students perform during examinations, but stated that is not the best way to prepare students for the future.

The vision of the CARICOM Education and Human Resource Development Strategy 2030 is "Unlocking Caribbean Human Potential”. The strategy is in line with CARICOM’s 2030 Strategic Development Goals and the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030.

The Ministry of Education and Culture is committed to creating a “Culture of Excellence”.                

Photographs are attached.

1. Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Culture, Dr. Marcia Potter at the CARICOM Consultation for the 2030 Human Resource Development Strategy. (Photo credit: Franklyn Skerritt/GIS)
2. Deputy Programme Manager – Education, CARICOM Secretariat Ms. Patricia McPherson at the CARICOM Consultation for the 2030 Human Resource Development Strategy. (Photo credit: Franklyn Skerritt/GIS)
3. CARICOM Secretariat Consultant, Dr. Nancy George at the CARICOM Consultation for the 2030 Human Resource Development Strategy. (Photo credit: Franklyn Skerritt/GIS)