Updated February 8, 2002

Education
For more information on activities in the area of Education, please see
the following Web sites:

IDB: Education   ECLAC: Education and Training  World   Bank: Education and Training OAS/UDSE: Education

Education mandates from the
Third Summit of the Americas

XXXI OAS General Assembly
San José, Costa Rica

       During the General Assembly the following resolutions were approved:

• AG/RES. 1807 (XXXI-O/01 First Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities on Science and Technology within the Framework of CIDI
  
  This Resolution notes that the First Meeting of Ministers and High Authorities on Science and Technology, will be celebrated in Panama in January, 2002, and urges Member States to participate in this meeting by sending their highest authorities in the area of science and technology. At the same time, it asks the General Secretariat to, through its Office of Science and Technology and in coordination with Executive Secretariat for Integral Development (SEDI), give technical and secretariat support for the execution of preparatory meetings and in follow up to science and technology mandates from the Second and Third Summits of the Americas.

• AG/RES. 1810 (XXXI-O/01) Second Meeting of Ministers of Education
  
  This Resolution notes the convening of the Second Meeting of Ministers of Education in the framework of CIDI, to be celebrated September 24-25, 2001, in Punta del Este, Uruguay. The Secretary General is asked to lend technical and secretariat support to the Ministers of Education for the execution of preparatory meetings and for the follow up to the education mandates from the Second and Third Summits of the Americas. The Resolution also recommends to Member States that they, with the support of the Unit for Social Development and Education and in coordination with the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development (IACD), encourage the development of multilateral projects linked with Summit mandates.

******

Follow Up to Education Mandates

Consultations by Civil Society on Education

The Unit for Social Development and Education has initiated an electronic consultation where civil society organizations can share their perspectives on the role of civil society in educational development. The Unit has invited these civil society organizations to participate in the process, directing them to sign on to the web page www.oas.org/consulta. Once signed on they can register and send in their participation, which will be posted on the same page.

The topic of this consultation is Civil Society’s Participation in Education: Myths, Realities and New Challenges. In parting, a discussion on Rosa Maria Torres’ article titled "Citizens’ Participation and Education; A panoramic view and twenty experiences in Latin America" was proposed. This article can be found on the same web page.

On the evening of September 25, 2001, at a special ceremony of the Second Meeting of Ministers of Education of the Americas, the Education Portal of the Americas, which is an initiative of the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development, was inaugurated.  From this portal, a user can access over 4,000 distance learning opportunities, fellowship programs, courses for the ongoing professional development of teachers and other related sites of interest. 

To see this Web site, please click here.

Please click here to view the Declaration by the Education Ministers of the Americas.

On Monday, September 24, 2001, the Ministers of Education of the hemisphere will meet in Punta del Este, Uruguay, in order to coordinate future actions on education for the citizens of the Americas.  This Second Meeting of Ministers of Education will address such issues as education quality and equity; improving decentralization, social participation and teacher education; and the strengthening of secondary and tertiary level education, as well as science and technology.  The meeting will also emphasize the necessity of education in preventing that hate, violence and war damage the spirit of the region’s citizens.  To see the agenda for the Ministerial, please click here.

An Inter-Agency Education Meeting took place on August 6-7, 2001, at OAS headquarters. The meeting was held in order to explore the responses of international organizations and agencies with regards to the challenges of the mandates emanating from the Summits of the Americas that are relevant to the issue of education. It also proposed some guidelines for inter-agency work that would relate existing efforts on the diverse political initiatives in the region, in response to a commitment from the Third Summit of the Americas.

At the same time, a preparatory meeting took place on August 9-10, 2001, in Mexico, for the Second Meeting of Ministers of Education, which will be celebrated in Punta del Este, Uruguay, on September 24-25, 2001. The meeting included the participation of the Directors of International Cooperation from the various Education Ministries throughout the Hemisphere.

Five Sub-regional Meetings for Experts on Education and Cooperation were organized by the Unit for Social Development and Education and the Inter-American Agency for Cooperation and Development and took place at OAS headquarters between May and August of 2001. The purpose of these meetings was to develop a sub-regional mechanism to monitor the advances made by the countries in the area of education and human development, as well as identify consolidated programs that respond to points of the Plan of Action from the Third Summit of the Americas. The meetings also sought to generate technical and financial cooperation tools that would allow for the execution of horizontal cooperation strategies both within each sub-region and between the five areas.

Updated February 8, 2002