With the mandate of supporting countries and educational institutions across the Caribbean in the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of their educational plans, The University of the West Indies, Mona, launched the Caribbean Centre for Educational Planning (CCEP) last Wednesday.

Headed by Dr Canute Thompson, the CCEP will be engaged at both the macro and micro levels of educational planning.

In delivering the keynote address, Minister of Education Senator Ruel Reid said that the launch represented a historic moment for education in the Caribbean and an important component of the university’s 70th anniversary celebrations. Reid also asserted that the improvements in educational outcomes and the quality of life for citizens, of which successive governments have spoken, will depend on the quality of educational planning. The minister added that he was positive that the (CCEP) will partner with the National College for Educational Leadership, the National Education Inspectorate, and other bodies to promote research and to inform training and educational policysuited to our local and regional needs.

Principal of Spalding High School, George Henry, and principal of Rhodes Hall High, Loreen Aljoe, whose schools have engaged the services of the CCEP in developing their strategic school improvement plans, also addressed the launch event. Both principals described the broad-based stakeholder approach and reliance on school performance data which the CCEP used to guide the development of their plans. They highlighted the fact that even vendors who operate near the school were invited to the stakeholder consultation sessions.

Opposition spokesman on education Ronald Thwaites noted that the establishment of the CCEP represents recognition of the usefulness of academia to developing and advancing alternative solutions to the complex problems of the society.

The CCEP was established with the support of UNESCO and the Caribbean Development Bank. In her remarks, Lucet Montgomery, who represented the head of the UNESCO Caribbean Cluster Office, welcomed the establishment of the centre, noting that it is expected to provide the kinds of services that UNESCO provided to countries of the Caribbean through the International Institute for Educational Planning.

“We are handing over to the CCEP, but we will continue to collaborate,” the UNESCO statement noted.