Curtains come down on Caribbean Safe School Ministerial Forum

The second Caribbean Safe School Ministerial Forum wraps up today in St Vincent and the Grenadines, after two days of discussion.

The forum began yesterday with an opening ceremony at the National Insurance Services (NIS) conference room with over 100 participants from a number of countries and organisations in the region in attendance.

Elizabeth Riley, the deputy executive director of Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) said that the safe schools initiative is a flagship programme of the CDEMA coordinating unit.

She made reference to events that have occurred in the Caribbean, namely Hurricane Irma and the 6.9 magnitude earthquake which affected Trinidad and Tobago in 2018.

And Riley said that “these events suggest the need to reassess our operational environment and also emphasise the need to change in anticipation for what may potentially come”.

She posed questions to participants that she hoped would generate discussion over the two days and expressed thanks to the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines for hosting participants for the forum.

Dr Aloys Kamuragiye, the UNICEF Eastern Caribbean representative said that CDEMA’s initiative for safe schools aligns well with the initiatives for safe schools worldwide.

“We are more than ever – the international community – more than ever convinced that our collective efforts and ambitions to make schools safer spaces need to be more supported and further heightened,” he said.

The UNICEF representative added that there has been accelerated progress in the Caribbean region to implement the safe school initiative.

He said that many more schools have emergency plans which they have tested and that risk reduction and resilience education have become more mainstream in education systems.

Dr Kamuragiye also said that national contingency plans are being developed in many countries as well as guidelines for resilient schools.
And he listed these among several other steps that demonstrate the progress being made in the region.

St Clair ‘Jimmy’ Prince, the education minister delivered the feature address at yesterday’s ceremony.

“We are well aware that the Caribbean is a hazard prone region, exposed to many threats, natural and otherwise including but not limited to hurricanes, storms and related events, especially troughs in recent years,” Prince said.

He also listed droughts, floods, earthquakes, fires and mosquito-borne diseases as other threats affecting the region.

The education minister said that one or more of these disasters can occur annually, with some impacting suddenly and others creating damage overtime.

“The impact of such hazards has potential to disrupt lives and livelihoods and can set back development for many years,” he said. “The frequency and intensity of such hazards are likely to increase as a result of accelerated climate change and our society must be willing to make adjustments to create a culture of safety in relation to hazards.”

He further said that hazards could disrupt the education system and cause serious setbacks in the learning process.

Prince also listed several other ways in which hazards can negatively impact the education sector, whether through destruction of schools, loss of books and uniforms, as well as psychological damage done to students and teachers.

“In light of the challenges posed by hazards, the ministry of education of St Vincent and the Grenadines has been proactive in its approach of building resilience of the education sector in its approach to disasters. The ministry has made a commitment to collaborate with regional and international partners in the implantation of its school safety initiatives,” he said.

And he said that the ministry makes school safety a national priority in conjunction with the education revolution currently being implemented in the country.

The forum will conclude later today.

Its aims include updating the Caribbean regional road map on school safety, facilitating the signing of the declaration on school safety and regional road map implementation by new states and monitoring the achievements in implementation of others. 

It is also expected to promote and raise awareness of the initiative on safe schools, facilitate ministerial dialogue with donors in support of the initiative and engage youth in the Caribbean School Safety Initiative.