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                                                                                                           LOCAL Thursday 9 January 2020






























































            2020, Dedicated to Innovation and Education




            Continued from Page 14                          ter balances the strong influence of globalized
                                                            cultural products”. In these last few days there
            Furthermore,  UNESCO  is  continuously  leading  has been a lot of discussion in the community
            discussions on how to better engage youth in  regarding  Aruban  cultural  heritage  and  tradi-
            educational  projects  related  to  culture  and  tions that are either not respected (the Dande)
            heritage.  According  to  the  Forum  of  Ministers  or  diminishing  (the  Tumba).  The  most  popular
            of Culture in 2019 “leveraging culture to further  arguments revolve around the fact that we as
            education goals (SDG 4) across all continents is  a  country  have  failed  (still  failing)  to  educate
            an essential effort, which still remains underex-  our  younger  generations  to  appreciate  and
            plored” in regions such as the Caribbean. Very  love Aruba’s cultural heritage resulting in a por-
            few educational or cultural policies prioritize cul-  tion of our community being detached from its
            tural and arts education despite the challenge  own culture and traditions.
            of youth unemployment (SDG 8)”. In 2016, the
            youth  unemployment  on  Aruba  reached  18%  There is no doubt that Aruba has work to do.
            (CBS,  2019)  and  has  been  decreasing  slowly  Not only do we need to innovate as a country,
            since  then,  but  not  enough.  “Arts  education  but we need to innovate within the education
            that  empowers  young  people  to  value  local  system itself, while keeping culture and creativ-  we need to dare to focus on bringing new ideas
            culture  and  heritage  lays  the  groundwork  for  ity a priority. As a small country, we have come  to the forefront and not being afraid to change
            the expansion of the creative sector and coun-  a long way, but like the Minister Lampe stated,  and innovate into the 21st century. q



                                               Biography - Thaïs G. Franken (24) is a recently graduated Aruban student at the University of Maastricht
                                               (UM). She obtained her graduate double master of science degree in Public Policy and Human Develop-
                                               ment in collaboration with the United Nations University Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute
                                               on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT). Back home, on the beautiful island of Aruba, she completed
                                               her Bachelor of Arts in Organization, Governance & Management (OGM) at the University of Aruba (UA),
                                               where she successfully defended her thesis titled “Placing Culture and Creativity at the Heart of the Aru-
                                               ban Sustainable Development”. It was precisely this research project that inspired the emergence of the
                                               “Creative Islander” column in 2018. Thaïs is very passionate about topics such as sustainability, innovation,
                                               culture, creativity, social entrepreneurship and their role in public management. Next to her academic in-
                                               terests, she enjoys reading, writing, dancing and cooking.
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