Download Remarks Prepared for Ambassador Albert Ramdin

Remarks Prepared for Ambassador Albert Ramdin
Inaugural Ceremony
V Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education
Theme: “Lessons Learned and Hemispheric Commitments
For Early Childhood Education”
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
7:00 p.m.
Centro de Formación de la Cooperación Española
Del Rey Room
Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
Buenas tardes. Su Excelencia Presidente Uribe, Ministra Vélez, distinguidos Ministros y
Viceministros, Embajador Quiñonez, Directora García, distinguidos delegados,
distinguidos representantes de organizaciones internacionales y de la sociedad civil,
colegas, señoras y señores.
Es un honor y un placer para mí estar entre ustedes con el propósito de inaugurar la
quinta reunión inter-americana de Ministros de Educación que trata de un tema de
máxima importancia. Me siento particularmente en casa en esta ciudad Patrimonio de la
Humanidad, de la que me han hecho entrega de sus llaves y me han hecho su ciudadano
honorario.
Señor Presidente Uribe, permítame agradecerle su presencia en esta Reunión Ministerial.
Los resultados de su gestión se evidencian no sólo en el apoyo popular del que usted goza
sino también en los alentadores indicadores que dan fe de las oportunas medidas tomadas
durante su administración. Cabe saludar su liderazgo , así como su indeclinable lucha por
la paz. [REMARKS CONTINUE IN ENGLISH]
When we talk about education we are talking about the survival and the future of our
societies. In this context, investments in young people are key to conquering the future
of our countries. As we articulate a clear vision, identify the most effective solutions, we
seek to form partnerships with those who share our goals, and – I am convinced – work to
raise investment in education at the preprimary, primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
Yet this is not easy, and of course it does not depend on education policy makers alone.
Expanding and improving education is one of the most complex and difficult endeavors,
and at the same time the most energizing task societies are called upon to undertake. It
requires the commitment of policy makers, educators, administrators, parents, children –
indeed, whole communities. And it requires a great deal of political will. Like it or not,
we need to go beyond focusing on the short term. We must challenge ourselves,
includingour governments and social partners to take the long view.
The change we are talking about is structural, for we are building more peaceful
communities and more equitable and just societies. I think it is important to give the
highest priority to those outcomes, forinvesting in education, if done right, will of course
result in a better-prepared workforce and higher incomes. But the fundamental reasons to
do this are because education is a right, and an educated population will be healthier,
more able to solve conflicts peacefully, better equipped to tackle the multitude of
challenges that inevitably as humans we face and will continue to face.
In education, Latin America and the Caribbean have made great strides in achieving two
overarching goals: greatly increased rates of enrollment in school, and gender parity.
While there still are countries in which additional effort is needed, in general, in our
region, the vast majority of children now enter school, and both boys and girls are being
provided with opportunities. This is very good news indeed.
Nonetheless, while we have been enrolling more children in school and ensuring that
large proportions of our children complete primary school and enter secondary school,
countries in other regions have been graduating well over 90 percent of their students
from secondary school, and large percentages of their young people from universities.
Most troubling of all, in our region, if a child is from a low-income, indigenous or Afrodescendent family in a rural community, he or she is almost certain to have less good
quality education than his or her more advantaged peers.
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None of this is new to you,. However, we are here to discuss solutions. And we do know
one of the most effective ways to address poverty, inequality, and low educational
attainment and achievement.
Just two weeks ago, nine top professors in economicsmet in San José, Costa Rica to
assess the biggest challenges facing Latin America today, and to rank 29 possible policy
solutions to those challenges. They were asked to respond to the question: “If Latin
America were willing to spend, say, $10 billion over the next five years on improving
well-being, which projects would have the biggest benefits?” According to the results of
the Consulta de San José, organized by the Inter-American Development Bank and the
Copenhagen Consensus, these expert economists ranked early childhood development
as the number one most effective solution.
Nobel prize winner in economics James Heckman states that the return on every dollar
invested in early childhood education is much greater – eight to one – than that of a dollar
invested in secondary and higher education (three to one).
A famous longitudinal study in the United States demonstrates that children from very
disadvantaged backgrounds who participated in a high-quality early childhood education
program, had – once grown – higher monthly incomes, better-paying jobs, higher levels
of schooling, fewer arrests for common and drug-related crimes, higher levels of
intellectual functioning, and greater educational achievement. The older the individuals,
the higher the lifetime return on the initial investment.
Early childhood education is a question of national importance. This is why it is a matter
not just of governments, but of nations. If we are serious about reducing poverty levels
and closing the equity gap, we must begin early Yet if we take seriously the potential for
every young child to thrive given adequate nutrition, basic health care and early
cognitive, sensory and affective stimulation, we truly will have found the key to a more
prosperous and peaceful future for our hemisphere.
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The key is to close the gap between what we KNOW and what we DO. The research
evidence is in, and it is very clear. It is in early childhood that the foundations are laid –
not just for academic achievement, but also for the capacity to trust, to love, to innovate,
to defer gratification, to develop healthy social relations. We know this, and yet policies
and investments lag way behind.
According to recent statistics generated by the Regional Education Indicators Project, a
joint effort of the OAS, the Secretaría de Educación Pública of Mexico, and UNESCO,
there is an enormous range in our hemisphere with respect to enrollment in preschool
programs – from less than 30% net enrollment rates in some countries, to over 80 % in
others. Programs for very young children are particularly scarce. And the evidence
shows that governments in our region have assigned a low priority in public expenditure
to early childhood programs.
Yet some of our member states have incorporated the right to early childhood care and
education into their Constitutions.
In 2003, the Inter-American Committee on Education, or CIE, was created to provide
follow up on the mandates agreed upon by Education Ministers at their biannual
meetings. This has proved to be an effective mechanism to channel inter-American
dialogue and cooperation, and it helps to ensure that your decisions are transformed into
concrete actions and projects.
You will be hearing tomorrow about concrete existing cooperation under the auspices of
the CIE, not just on the topic of early childhood education, but also in the strengthening
of education indicators, in the development of a hemispheric alliance to promote
education for democratic citizenship, and more. The effective early leadership of Mexico
as CIE Chair, and the vigorous leadership of Trinidad and Tobago over the past two
years, deserve recognition and celebration, as do the roles of Vice Chairs Brazil and
Venezuela. Election of CIE authorities for the next two years at this meeting is an
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important step in ensuring that we continue the policy dialogue, the knowledge-sharing,
and the technical cooperation among OAS member states in the field of education.
Next June we will convene the OAS General Assembly in Medellin, Colombia, and in
2009 in Trinidad and Tobago will host the Fifth Summit of the Americas. These two
events will contribute to forging of consensus and the design and implementation of
programs of cooperation to face the challenges of our region. The Heads of State and
Government have affirmed that the ministerial meetings generate important results in
support of the Summit mandates and they have been identified as fundamental pillars for
hemispheric collaboration. The concrete results of this meeting will be an important
contribution to the inter-American agenda of development.
I look forward to our discussions here. On behalf of Secretary General José Miguel
Insulza and on my own behalf, I want to reiterate that your work here is of great
importance, and I thank the government of Colombia for hosting this meeting. I look
forward to our discussions; recognizing that education, and early childhood education in
particular, is a key part of the solution to the development and governance challenges that
the Hemisphere faces. Thank you very much for your attention.
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