By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. October 6, 2018 — The Hon. Jeffrey Lloyd, Bahamas Minister of Education, urged Bahamian students who attended a reception held in his honour at the Bahamas Embassy Consular Annex, 1025 Vermont Avenue, N.W., on Friday night, October 5, to study hard and after graduation return home to help build the nation.
Mr. Lloyd, who earlier in the week participated in the regular meeting of Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CIDI) of the Organization of American States (OAS), also advised Bahamian students to register with the Bahamas Consular Annex and keep abreast of the “great things they are doing” in representing The Bahamas diplomatically in the United States.
The Minister of Education of The Bahamas served as chair of the Inter-American Council’s Committee on Education for the past two years, and on Tuesday, October 2, Minister Lloyd addressed the CIDI meeting in that capacity.
Guests at the Bahamas Embassy Annex reception included the Hon. Michael S. Browne, Minister of Education, Science and Technology of Antigua and Barbuda, who will serve as chair of the Committee of Education for the next two years.
Also present at the reception were Senator Dr. Rommel Springer, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training in the administration of Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados, and Ms. Kim Hurtault-Osborne, Executive Secretary for Integral Development at the OAS.
Members of the executive team at The Bahamas Ministry of Education who accompanied Minister Lloyd to Washington were introduced at the reception, including Ms. Sharon Poitier, Deputy Director of Education; Ms. Serethea Clarke, Under Secretary; Mrs. Janice Knowles, Consultant; and Ms. Maria T. Seymour, Senior Education Officer (Modern Languages).
His Excellency Sidney Collie, Bahamas Ambassador to the United States and Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS), and Mr. Theo Neilly, Bahamas Consul General to Washington, D.C., brought brief remarks.
The two Bahamian diplomats used the occasion of the reception, held on the eve of Mr. Lloyd’s October 6 birthday, to surprise the Minister with a birthday cake and led guests in singing “Happy Birthday” to him.
Addressing the CIDI meeting on Tuesday, in his capacity as chair of the Committee on Education, Minister Lloyd said he was grateful for the opportunity to continue the “inter-sectoral policy dialogue between the member states of the OAS.”
He noted that the discussion was initiated in 2015 between “Labour and Education at the 8th meeting of Inter-American Ministers of Education held in Panama in February of that year.”
“At that meeting the Ministers of Education agreed on building an Inter-American education agenda to develop horizontal cooperation actions that strengthened the efforts of OAS member states to advance in the development of educational policies in three prioritized themes,” Minister Lloyd said.
He identified these themes as: Quality inclusive and equitable education, strengthening of the teaching profession, and comprehensive early childhood care.
“The Inter-American education agenda was adopted at the most recent meeting of Ministers of Education held in The Bahamas in February of 2017, and working groups formed by Ministries of Education around each of the aforementioned areas are continuing their efforts to implement actions that will allow them to comply with some of the outcome targets of Goal Number 4 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” Minister Lloyd said.
According to the OAS website, “The purpose of CIDI is to promote cooperation among its member States for the furtherance of their integral development and, in particular, to help eliminate extreme poverty. The CIDI is composed of all the member States who meet in regular, special, specialized or sectoral meetings. The member states may appoint an alternate representative and advisers, as it sees fit.”
The website notes that in compliance “with article 96 of the OAS Charter, CIDI shall hold at least one regular meeting each year at the ministerial or equivalent level, to consider matters of a general nature in the area of integral development and partnership for development.”
