According to the final declaration of the XI Meeting of Ministers of Education, which took place 'online' and had as its theme "Education in the Member States of the CPLP and the context of the covid-19 pandemic", the draft resolution on "education in an emergency context" in the organization was adopted.
The proposal will now be submitted "to the Council of Ministers meeting" in July 2021, "with a view to boosting multilateral cooperation" in this field.
In addition, the ministers decided to mandate the meeting of Education Focal Points to draw up a proposal for a reference instrument to promote multilateral cooperation in education in times of emergency during the first half of 2021.
Thus, cooperation among CPLP member states, in a context such as the covid-19 pandemic, should be one of the areas included in the new CPLP Education Cooperation Action Plan for the period 2021-2026, as the previous plan runs until the end of this year.
However, the new plan should already be approved under the Angolan presidency of the CPLP, as explained by the Cape Verdean Minister of Education, Maritza Rosabal, who now holds the rotating presidency of the community.
For the first time, the XI Meeting of Ministers of Education counted with the participation of international organizations, and one of the subjects on the agenda was precisely the strengthening of institutional relations with these organizations in the fields of education and training.
In addition to the ministers and education officials from the member states, the meeting was attended by the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the National Agency Erasmus Education and Training.
The opening session of the meeting of ministers was also attended by the Deputy Director General of Education of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Stefania Giannini.
On the agenda of this Wednesday's meeting was also the implementation of the Action Plan for Multilateral Cooperation in Education of the CPLP (2016-2020) and the strategic guidelines for the period 2021-2026.
The CPLP includes Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Timor-Leste.
