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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.