CAHE workshop comes to a close

The task now is to strategize and implement the recommendations that came out of the three-day meeting of members of the Caribbean Association of Home Economists (CAHE) which ended here yesterday, Wednesday, April 20.{{more}}

Held under the theme ‘Home Economics: solutions for sustaining family life’, members met to discuss the modern day challenges and to discuss solutions to these challenges.

Audrey Jones-Drayton, President of CAHE, told SEARCHLIGHT that the organization has been working and meeting as they try to assist the United Nations in achieving its millennium goals.

Meetings are held every two years and consists of member states which span from Belize to Guyana and includes members from Canada and the United States.

Issues regarding poverty, hunger, access to water, solid waste management, nutrition and housing were just some of the issues down for discussion, Jones-Drayton said.

The session got underway last Saturday with a pre-conference, the organization’s president said, with members discussing the concept of rebranding and strategies for reaching out to the public, particularly amidst the challenges facing Caribbean families.

The major challenge, according to Jones-Drayton, is that Home Economics depends on the education system to get its message across.

She contended that people’s concept of Home Economics is wrong and that it does not only involve cooking.

“We find recently that governments have been marginalizing our subject and are taking it out of schools in the lower forms or merging it with other subjects,” Jones-Drayton explained.

She said she believes that the answer to many of the problems that Caribbean societies face today could be alleviated by topics taught in Home Economics.

Anita John, President of the local Association, also told SEARCHLIGHT that long ago Home Economics was taught to students at the primary school level, but it is now only being offered throughout secondary schools here.

The bigger challenge, according to John, was that the teaching of Home Economics is pushed towards students who are deemed slow learners and that although some students may want to take up the subject, they are not allowed to because of the way it is grouped.

Both women made a call for the reintroduction of the subject to students at an earlier age.

“What we are saying is allow us into your system at a younger age,” Jones-Drayton said.

The next step according to CAHE’s president is for member states to carry out the recommendations reached during the sessions.

Although the general body meets every two years, the executive committee meets regularly to strategize and implement these recommendations Jones-Drayton explained. (DD)