The challenge was launched by the representative of the executive secretary of the CPLP, at the opening of the 14th technical meeting of the Education focal points of the Portuguese-speaking community, which kicked off this Tuesday in São Tomé and Príncipe, the country that holds the pro tempore presidency of the CPLP.
João Ima-Panzo said that the meeting "inaugurates a cycle in the education sector" with achievements that will be implemented in the archipelago and throughout the CPLP space and to this end he assured the availability of all States to "cooperate in whatever is necessary for the implementation of the strategic plan for multilateral cooperation in this field".
The representative of the executive secretary of the CPLP left the challenge to reflect on the digitalization of education, stressing that "the world is advancing at a dizzying, quite vertiginous speed and education is focused on the future" which "must capture social trends within it for life in society in the future, for professionalization in the future".
"Today, digitalization is increasingly required not only in terms of school organization, but it is also an imperative need to take it as a pedagogical objective in our schools: to educate for digitalization, so that our students have the tools necessary to meet the challenges of his time", said João Ima-Panzo.
The representative of the executive secretariat highlighted that "education within the framework of CPLP's multilateral cooperation is the social space in which the development of human capital flourishes, assuming that in it people reach their full potential and contribute to the growth of people and social, economic and environmental development".
He highlighted the CPLP's strategic plan for multilateral cooperation in education for the period 2022-2026 and the 2022 to 2024 action plan that provided "important instruments for carrying out cooperation in the field of education", recording progress, particularly with "the launch of the pilot project of CPLP friendly schools" to contribute to the promotion of the Portuguese language and the values of peace and democracy that guide the organization.
He also highlighted the implementation of initiatives such as the first inspection exercise in education, as well as advances in the production of education statistics in the CPLP, which covers the "great difficulty" regarding the "existence of systematized data on the different areas".
The Minister of Education, Culture and Sciences of São Tomé and Príncipe added that other actions "are being materialized" to reinvent "new paths and solutions" in the CPLP's educational systems.
"We hereby affirm our commitment to remain committed to continuing the dynamics that CPLP/Education experienced during the Angolan presidency, reinforcing areas such as technical and vocational education, special education, food, nutrition and school health, guided by guiding documents and actions concerted and integrated", said Isabel D'Abreu.
The São Tomé governor highlighted that education is the most impactful, transformative and safe area with lasting fruits" which has unquestionable importance "as a support for economic, social and cultural development, in the fight against poverty and social exclusion".
São Tomé and Príncipe assumed the rotating presidency of the CPLP in September last year with the motto Youth and Sustainability.
Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste are the nine member states of the CPLP.
