It is my pleasure to welcome you, on behalf of the Secretary-General, to this the Seventeenth Meeting of the Council for Human and Social Development (COHSOD).

This Education COHSOD is meeting at a time when the global economic and financial crisis brings into sharp focus the need to have a trained, readily trainable and re-trainable work force in our Region.

Today’s global situation makes it imperative for countries such as ours to re-orient and fine-tune our systems to cope with the phenomenon.

Critical to re-orienting and fine-tuning our systems is the development of human capital for which education is the driver. The theme of this COHSOD, "Accelerating the Implementation of the Education Agenda" aptly reflects the recognition that education is, and must continue to be, pivotal in national and regional efforts to sustain and enhance productivity and economic growth as well as social cohesion.

Just over a decade ago, Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community addressed the issue of the role of education and human resource development in building a creative and productive workforce when at the 18th Meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government held in Montego Bay, Jamaica, 4-7 July 1997, they committed themselves to the implementation of specific measures identified in two documents entitled: Towards Creative and Productive Citizens for the Twenty-First Century and Human Resource Development and Science and Technology within the Context of the Single Market and Economy.

But even before that, in Grenada, in the 1989 Grand Anse Declaration, they placed people and the development of the Region's human resources squarely at the centre of our development. That Declaration states: “We are conscious that people, rather than institutions, are the creators and producers of development”. It further states in the preamble to the Annex related to the University of the West Indies (UWI): “Deeply conscious of the critical importance of upgrading human resources at all levels and of enhancing the scientific and technological capability of the Region if it is to overcome the present economic challenges and avail itself of the opportunities unfolding in the global economy in the Twenty-first century...”

And then again, as recently as 2007 in Barbados, the Heads declared in the Needham’s Point Declaration on Functional Cooperation that: “…improvement of the quality of life of CARICOM citizens is the paramount objective of our Region’s integration process”.

This basic principle that development and economies are about people, which was considered radical twenty years ago, continues to be a critical factor in the Region’s move toward integration.

Over the years, our education programmes at primary, secondary and tertiary levels have been evolving to reflect the changing needs of our society. Furthermore, we have been paying special attention to early childhood care and development, because we recognise the critical importance of those formative years in the development of the child. Significant strides have been made in several Member States in the area of Early Childhood Care and Development, and as the Community makes further gains towards the strengthening of this sector, we look forward to the early launch of the regional guidelines for policy regulations and standards in the delivery of early childhood services The ultimate goal in this sector is the harmonisation of regulations and standards that will help to facilitate effective delivery of quality early childhood services in our Member States.

Tertiary education, including teacher training, is one of the priority areas for this COHSOD and it is an area in which we have been challenged but one, nevertheless, in which we have reaped significant successes. It was approximately ten years ago that the Caribbean Community set a target of 15% of the student population accessing quality tertiary education. Several mechanisms at the regional and national levels have since been put in place, not only to ensure access but to ensure as well quality tertiary education.

One such mechanism is the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning Network (CKLN) which was established in 2004 to foster the upgrading of tertiary institutions across the Region, in an effort to increase their ability to use modern approaches to learning. Through this mechanism, we have been attempting to facilitate greater collaboration between tertiary institutions in reaching a wider cross-section of the Community’s students, thus bringing us closer to and beyond the 15% target. Our agenda today provides for the review the work of the CKLN and this institution’s role in assisting in increasing greater access to tertiary education through distance and e-learning. Permit me to congratulate the CKLN on the strides it has made in its short existence, not only in its core mandate which I mentioned earlier but also in facilitating regional collaboration in the area of research and education through C@ribNet, the Caribbean Research and Education Network, about which you will hear more later.

The Community has also placed greater emphasis on the re-organisation of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to provide the requisite skill-development that would satisfy workplace demands. This will not only provide greater scope for employment within the Region but will further position the Region for competitive participation in the global economy.

The introduction last year, of the Caribbean Vocational Qualification (CVQ) is a significant element in linking education to the goals of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME). The CVQ will facilitate the movement of artisans and other skilled persons within the Single Market area. This qualification will be accessible to persons already in the workforce as well as to students in secondary schools. The CVQ has the potential to ensure that the CSME has available to it a regional pool of certified skilled persons while at the same time touching lives as it puts the benefits of the CSME within reach of many, given its availability to skilled, yet uncertified persons in the workplace, students in secondary schools through arrangements with CXC, and persons in training institutions.

The operations of the CSME demand a common system and understanding across the Region of quality assurance issues at all levels of education and training, and portable qualifications especially in TVET. The fact that we can now move from national vocational qualifications to a regional vocational qualification is testimony to the political will and hard work invested in the process by our Member States.

Central to the effort of providing qualifications of high quality is the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC). This Caribbean institution has been certifying our secondary students for more than 30 years as we continue to promote secondary education that is universally accepted and globally competitive, yet unique to the circumstances and experiences of the Caribbean student.

I commend CXC for its achievements over the past 36 years and add my voice of welcome to the new Registrar, Dr. Didacus Jules, who is attending his first COHSOD. Our institutions of higher learning such as the University of the West Indies, the University of Guyana, Anton de Kom University in Suriname, the University of Belize and Quisqueya University in Haiti, though contending with challenges, still continue to serve the Region by providing the calibre of graduates necessary for leadership and development.

The Region has been faced by challenges, caused by many forces, including the paucity of human and financial resources, and global economic crises. Nevertheless, our goal has always been clear, that is, to emphasise the need for the provision of education that would ensure a skilled and creative workforce able to hold its own in the new, competitive global environment. We have been assisted in this goal by several of our development partners, without whom the feat of educating our Region would have been made more difficult. These include: CIDA, DFID, UNDP, UNFPA, UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and the OAS. I extend our appreciation to them and look forward to our continued partnership in the development of the people of our Region.

The current global crisis gives us the opportunity to pursue this goal more vigorously than ever. Our agenda for this meeting underscores this point. As we chart the way forward, let us reflect on the role that we each must play in this regard. And in the final analysis, let us remember that education not only gives us the knowledge of the world around us but it also develops in us a perspective of looking at life. Indeed the best way to guarantee the survival of our individual countries, and our region is to develop educated individuals.

I wish you a productive meeting.

Thank you.