GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – The Guyana-based Caribbean Community (Caricom) Secretariat says it is in the process of establishing or reviving five technical working groups that will develop specific sector policies and standards for the broadening and deepening of equitable access and facilitate relevance and quality in regional education and training.

The secretariat said that the working groups are ”task forces comprising six key regional experts and one internationally renowned expert who have volunteered their expertise for the advancement of the region’s human resource development.

“ The five groups cover early childhood education, teaching innovations and educational leadership, open and distance learning and ICTs in education, external quality assurance/accreditation and qualifications systems and tertiary education.”

The secretariat said that the remit of these technical working groups is closely aligned to the mandate given by the regional leaders to develop a Human Resource Development 2030 Strategy, which shall provide broad direction for developing key transformational initiatives in education and training in the region.

It said that the policies and standards formulated by the technical working groups shall, to a large extent, focus on ensuring that citizens of the region acquire 21st Century competencies and key skills for building resilient economies and societies.

The secretariat said that members were selected because of their significant expertise and contributions to development of educational policy and standards in Caricom member states and with international agencies.

It said that the groups are led by people who are proven regional educational leaders in the areas of emphasis across the region.

The chairs are Professor Compton Bourne (Tertiary Education); Professor Hazel Simmons-McDonald (Open and Distance Learning and ICTs in Education); Dr Ruby Alleyne (External Quality Assurance and Qualifications Systems); Dr Marcia Stewart, (teaching innovations and Educational Leadership) and Dr Carol Logie (Early Childhood Education and Development).

Programme manager, Human Resource Development of the Caricom Secretariat Dr Eduardo Ali, said that the policies and standards emanating from these groups will go a long way in helping the region achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education because they shall be internationally benchmarked in order to regulate the provision of equitable access to quality education and lifelong learning.