By KATHRYN CAMPBELL
NASSAU, Bahamas, Sept. 1, 2022 (BIS) — The National Accreditation and Equivalency Council of The Bahamas (NAECOB) hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony, August 31, 2022, to mark the opening of its new location on the corner of Tonique Williams Darling Highway and Knowles Drive.
Several dignitaries and guests were on hand to celebrate with NAECOB. Among them: the Hon. Glenys Hanna-Martin, Minister of Education and Technical & Vocational Training; the Hon. Zane Lightbourne; Minister of State; Lorraine Armbrister, Permanent Secretary; Dr. Marcellus Taylor, Director of Education; Serethea Clarke and Sonia Culmer, Undersecretaries; members of the NAECOB council, including Thelma Grimes; Chairman; Dr. Lisa Stovel-Rolle, Executive Director, NAECOB.
Mrs. Ann-Marie Davis, wife of the Hon. Philip E. Davis, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, also attended the event.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force Pop Band provided music for the occasion. Participants included members of the council: Claudette Rolle, Italia Davis, Shena Williams, Dr. Rolle, Chairman Grimes and Archdeacon Keith Cartwright.
In remarks, Minister Hanna-Martin said it is essential that NAECOB is “unassailable in its credibility, precise in its execution, efficient in its operations and responsive to all stakeholders, comprising most ultimately the Bahamian people.”
“This new space will therefore tower across our archipelago and the world as a symbol of our commitment to excellence,” Minister Hanna-Martin said.
She noted that the agency was created in 2007 by the National Accreditation and Equivalency Council Act and is responsible for advising on the accreditation and recognition of educational and training institutions, providers, programmes and awards, and for the promotion of the quality and standard of education and training in The Bahamas.
Minister Hanna-Martin emphasized that the statute makes it clear that the role and function of NAECOB goes beyond accreditation and assessment, but also includes the obligation to promote the advancement in The Bahamas of education, training, learning skills and knowledge.
“It is clear that NAECOB is more than a technical body of accreditation of educational and training institutions tasked with the sole function of accrediting and re-accrediting of institutions operating in The Bahamas,” she said. “It has a larger national function in protecting and promoting public confidence in education and learning, and also very importantly in promoting a culture of quality assurance in general in The Bahamas.”
She added: “It is an essential instrument in pursuing, protecting and promoting the qualitative state of our nation by ensuring the recognition of standards in the training and preparation of our own human resource as a Bahamian people but also in promoting the critical norms of the necessity for standards and the need for quality assurance.
“The creation of this agency was therefore an important step in our national development and a continuing and progressive necessity as we seek to advance and improve as a people of excellence.”
