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LOCAL Thursday 23 March 2023

Aruba attends the UN Water Conference 2023

(Oranjestad)—From March intersectoral collabora- the world that still do not
22 to the 24 , the Aruban tions. have access to water. This
th
nd
delegacion will be repre- requires urgent action from
senting the island’s nature We survive on water. It is leaders around the world
during the water confer- an essential resource that is to guaranty sustainable dis-
ence in New York. This crucial for the well-being of tribution of water for all ba-
year, the United Nations people, energy and food sic human needs.
Water Conference is being production, a healthy eco-
co-organized by the Neth- system, climate adapta- In Aruba, we have to re-
erlands and Tajikistan. tion, reduction of poverty member that our water
etc. Water is central when resource is our ocean; the
The goal of this conference it comes to sustainable ocean that not only sur-
is to gather stakeholders developments, but con- rounds us, but that also
from different sectors to tamination and excessive connects us with the world
accelerate the implemen- use of our water resources around us. That is why it is
tation of water policies and has brought negative con- important to know and un- sponsible actions can be is currently participating
to improve the impact of sequences for people’s derstand the challenges taken to bring sustainable in the different sessions,
the challenges surrounding health, ecosystems and that other countries face solutions. where they will discuss the
water around the world. economic activity. Access and to also establish col- compromises Aruba made
The three principles that to clean water is a basic hu- laborative goals, especially Minister Ursell Arends (Na- with the UN for the Sustain-
guide the conference is in- man right. Even so, there all with the other islands in the ture), along with Prime Min- able Development Goals
clusivity, taking action and millions of people around Caribbean. That way, re- ister Evelyn Wever-Croes (SDGs).q

Educational screening report: cooperation and exchange of knowledge in the
region and amongst countries in the Dutch kingdom is a good idea

Since February of 2021, Inspec- education and the labor market, Recommendations in terms of in the system is optimized. Some ex-
tion of Education in Aruba and The like for example, the collecting of qualified staff, necessary knowl- amples include making decisions
Netherlands began their study on data surrounding the needs of the edge and good management, for limiting school costs in general,
the quality of education in Aruba. labor market on Aruba and the or- and specialties during moments the investment in skills and super-
In the report “Screening Report”, 13 ganization Platform Education and where legislations are implement- vision of teachers, building main-
recommendations were brought to Labor (PEL), and its responsibilities. ed—for all these recommenda- tenance etc. This also includes
attention for improving the quality tions, available staff is limited. accountability for the internal su-
of education on the island. For a better definition of the rec- pervision and participation, mak-
ommendations of the system, the Besides the phases of the agenda, ing it visible how these decisions
A team of investigators began the team developed an agenda of the team points out that a good contribute to better education.
evaluation of the quality of edu- implementation for 3 themes: fi- idea would be to explore the op-
cation in Aruba based on 3 cen- nance, government and legisla- portunities for cooperation and Additionally, the team thinks it is
tral research questions related to tion. To further elaborate on this, exchange of knowledge within important if, for example, there is
the basic functions of education: plans about the financial system, the region and amongst countries money available in the ‘Landspak-
qualification, socialization and the supervision of the budget, the within the Dutch Kingdom. Kibra- ket’ (Budget given by The Nether-
assignment; the conditions that organization of the public schools hacha—which is an educational lands for the islands in the Dutch
make these basic functions and and the actualization of educa- association in the Caribbean—is kingdom). This will also be relevant
the management of these func- tional legislation are all included. an example of these kinds of co- in the necessary investment of
tions possible. operation. Cooperation between education on the island: “A pre-
The recommendations and differ- institutions in the region could also cise justification is necessary in the
The report indicates that recom- ent in nature, and some require provide great results. agenda, because aimless invest-
mendations intended for the im- translation to a specific focus and ments give less desirable results.”
provement of education and the in the phases of the agenda. At In terms of the financial conse-
fortification of the educational sys- the same time, the report further quences of these recommenda- Finally, the report states that it is im-
tem became operational in one explains that there are parts of tions, this has not yet been speci- portant to structure appropriately
key point. Firstly, concrete agree- the recommendation that can be fied. Regardless, the team has this and to use the long term financial
ments have been made to pro- implemented sooner and could al- to say about the financial cover- consequences of the demograph-
mote the connection between leviate the pressure on the educa- age of these measures in the re- ic tendencies. On one hand, this
tional system for the time being. port: is how the effects of the number
First of all, not all recommendations of schools and the amount of ter-
Two examples include: 1. support cost money. In this sense, the rec- ritory that is needed for them. On
for teachers through, for example, ommendation for the government the other hand, the finance, which
the deployment of (additional) of adopting a professionally or- is the results of the number of stu-
internal supervising teachers and ganized structure in which exists a dents and their contribution, keeps
recovery teacher; 2. Offer ac- separation between management the long term calculations stable.
cess the focus on preschools and and supervision with strong direc-
crèches as part of the continuous tors, good internal supervision and It has also been noted that the de-
line of education. employee participation is crucial. crease in students results in a high-
er contribution from each student.
An important focal point that is This way, the gap between man- This is only effective if the mea-
mentions in the elaboration of the agement and supervision and the sures for improvement proposed
recommendations is the available usage of resources is smaller and in the report are simultaneously
staff to be able to implement this. thus improvement and investment implemented.q