Rodolphe Samuel
PHILIPSBURG--Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport (ECYS) Rodolphe Samuel opened the third Virtual Caribbean Safe School Initiative Pre-Ministerial Forum on Monday, March 15.
St. Maarten is hosting this year’s forum. Samuel gave his remarks during the opening session. He also serves as co-host of the forum and incoming chairman of the Caribbean Safe School Initiative (CSSI).
In his remarks Samuel said, “COVID-19 and the increasing hazards that our region has been challenged with substantiate the need for us to continue working as islands, countries and as a region on comprehensive school safety.”
He noted that in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma in 2017, the ECYS ministry had been catalysed to make a number of strides toward ensuring education sector resilience. In July 2018 ECYS installed the Safety and Emergency Management Committee (SEMC).
The SEMC was commissioned to adapt the comprehensive school safety framework at the national level and set up plans and strategies for safety and emergency management, continuous disaster preparedness and maintenance, and crisis management.
“That same year, we began the consultative process on the school safety roadmap. We trained stakeholders on assessing hazards in schools; safety and emergency response guidelines were approved and schools began to work on their school safety and emergency plans,” Samuel said.
He said safety and emergency teams were installed in each school in 2019, school safety material was distributed to schools, school evacuation procedures were drafted and work began on the safety ambassadors programme for elementary schools.
“St. Maarten signed on to the Antigua and Barbuda Declaration in April 2019 because we are committed to disaster risk management in our education sector and that commitment is one that we all share. By April 2020, our very recent commitment to the Antigua and Barbuda Declaration and progress made in the area of school safety were quickly tested as we faced the spectre of another rapid onset that was this time invisible, insidious, persistent and just as crippling,” he added.
Samuel noted that COVID-19, which very much like Irma has resulted in devastating impacts on all education sectors, has given further pause to review the definition and understanding of risk. “We have learnt that risk is as much about the unknown as it is about the known,” he said.
“As Ministries of Education, we can only start to tackle the interconnected nature of systemic risk by becoming connected ourselves. We must do this despite territorial and political boundaries, across sectors and regardless of language differences.
“The recent and ongoing events have taught us, if nothing else, that our experiences are shared, that we can learn from each other and that none of us want to be caught off guard. Let us use the opportunity presented by the Virtual Pre-Ministerial Forum on Safe Schools to share our experiences and set the basis for the continued advancement of the school safety agenda in the Caribbean through the CSSI.
“The genius of this virtual forum is that it allows all stakeholders to participate and in so doing, builds stronger collaboration among the ministries of education in the Caribbean with relevant private sector entities, non-governmental organisations as well as other regional and international entities.”
He minister said the third ministerial forum hosted by St. Maarten will be defined by all participating ministers, based on their national and regional priorities for action and dialogue for the remainder of 2021.
“It is our intention that this virtual forum will serve as the necessary catalyst. We ask you to ensure the participation of your permanent secretaries and school safety focal points during the entirety of the forum,” he said.
“As incoming chair of the Regional Safe School Working Group and the CSSI, I fully endorse this virtual forum. We must continue to make progress in the area of school safety, as the sustainability of our nations depends on it.”
The Caribbean Safe School Ministerial Forum is the flagship biennial meeting of ministers of education from across the region, disaster risk reduction practitioners and international and regional stakeholders to explore and identify policy opportunities and gaps for education sector resilience and their regional coordination.
The forum takes place, virtually, March 15-26.
