Fiji recently chaired the Education Ministerial Action Group (EMAG) at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, last week.
As the outgoing chair before the 21CCEM in Kenya next year, Minister Akbar congratulated the member states as well as the Secretariat for the continuous and effective implementation of our Nadi Declaration, particularly the respective initiatives and programs developed and successfully implemented since the last EMAG in January last year.
EMAG provides the most equitable platform to be informed of the status of the implementation of our Nadi Declaration Action Plan (the outcome document of the last CCEM), as well as the outcomes of the Commonwealth Accelerated Development Mechanism for Education (CADME) working group.
The body provides the opportunity to share learnings and experiences amongst members, on the respective developments pursued/implemented as per the Nadi Declaration outcomes; and as well as preparations for the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Govt. Meeting (CHOGM) and the 21CCEM.
The EMAG members with the guidance of the Secretariat, had discussions on diverse issues including supporting the Commonwealth’s education work programme and Nadi Action Plan in regional and international settings, avenues in which EMAG can provide greater oversight for CCEM mandates, as well as ascertaining how EMAG members can play a further effective role in representing their respective regions and sharing the developments across the Commonwealth via regional platforms.
With the aim of sharing learnings and experiences, and identifying good practices; the Hon. Ministers shared the status of Education development in their countries and region; particularly its alignment towards the implementation of the Nadi Declaration Action Plan.
Minister Akbar in providing an update on Fiji’s Nadi Declaration implementation status, informed members that as part of the Education Governance and Management outcome, the Fiji Education Management Information System (FEMIS) has been operating successfully and has recently incorporated additional modules in 2019 to improve efficiency in the Education system. As an outcome of this system, results of more than 30,000 Year 10, 12 and 13 students’ part-taking in National exam are released online and accessible by phones.
The system is also a Monitoring and Evaluation tool to track ministry progress towards strategic goals.
She further highlighted that Fiji is the owner of all source code used by FEMIS and this approach of sharing code was successful in Vanuatu. She added that sharing modules cuts down on software development costs and reduces time to delivery, when modules are already built and tested.
In building Resilience through Education, Fiji with the support from UNICEF and UNDP, has developed the School Disaster Risk Reduction & Resilience Building [SDRR&RB] Handbook for teachers and students; which provides a practical ’how-to’ guide for ensuring students and staff protection, safe guarding education continuity and promoting a culture of safety and resilience.
In promoting the significance of Education for the enhancement of Sustainable Development, Fiji with support from UNICEF has commenced the contextualization of the global ECCE diagnostic and planning tool last year. This ECCE toolkit is envisioned to be operational later on this year.
Members also had the opportunity to be updated on progress made by our Education partners including the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL).
Given that Fiji will be handing over the chairmanship of the EMAG to Kenya at the 21CCEM in March next year, members were also provided with preparations made to date by representatives from Kenya.
Apart from administrative and logistical preparations, members were also updated on Themes, Subthemes and Policy recommendations for this much anticipated biennial meeting.
In concluding the one-day meeting, members were once again reminded and encouraged to advance the implementation of specific actions that will ensure at least 12 years of quality education and learning for girls and boys by 2030, by investing in skilled motivated and supportive teachers, educational facilities, and focusing on education reforms.
Guided by the principle to leave no one behind, they agreed to support marginalised groups, especially disadvantaged girls, children with disabilities, and those who have dropped out of school to progress through secondary education and training through appropriate policies, advocacy and strategic partnerships.
The EMAG comprises of ten (10) countries including Fiji (Chair), The Bahamas, Botswana, Jamaica, India, Kenya, Malta, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu.