Ministers Approve Common Roadmap for Education

Vijonet Déméro, Haiti’s Minister of National Education, presided over the second day of the 12th Inter-American Meeting of Ministers of Education held in Quito, Ecuador. The meeting focused on "Towards Resilient Education Systems in Contexts of Change," bringing together officials from 41 countries.

During plenary sessions, ministers discussed topics such as educational pathways for retention and reintegration, digital technologies' role in education transformation, democratic participation within the framework, healthy learning environments, and lifelong learning. Albert R. Ramdin, Secretary General of the OAS, stated that true development is built through continuous dialogue and cooperation.

The meeting concluded with a joint hemispheric declaration and an action plan for 2026-2028 focusing on educational continuity, digital transformation, democratic participation, healthy school environments, and workforce preparedness. The solutions include promoting digital skills and critical thinking via the Hemispheric Protocol on Education in Digital Environments; implementing nutrition policies with PAHO support; deploying evidence-based flexible learning pathways to ensure reintegration of excluded students; developing technical education for lifelong learning aligned with labor market needs; and fostering democratic values within schools.

Gilda Natalia Alcívar García, Ecuador’s Minister of Education, Sport, and Culture, said the consensus reached in Quito commits them "to continue working together, within the framework of the Inter-American Committee on Education, to make our education systems more resilient and better prepared to support every student in contexts of change."

On the sidelines, the OAS Educational Portal co-hosted a special session with Ayuda en Acción analyzing AI's impact on education.