Luanda – Angola’s Vice President of the Republic Esperança Costa proposed Wednesday in Luanda the promotion of literacy in terms of Communication Technologies and Scientific Research in the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP).
Esperança Costa made the proposal while delivering her speech at the opening of the XII Meeting of Ministers of Education of the CPLP, adding that education is solid bases for sustainable development, in the most varied domains within the community.
"The CPLP must, as a whole, continue to be engaged in issues related to education, above all, an education capable of keeping up with the mutations that are operating in terms of technologies", she stressed.
The Vice President said it was crucial to pay attention to concerted cooperation positions, for specific segments of education.
She mentioned mainly the financial education, education for climate action and education for technologies, with a strong focus on digital technology, in this era of artificial intelligence, the internet and social networks.
In her address, she recognised, however, the existence of countries within the community that are advanced in this matter, and these could, within the framework of closer cooperation, contribute, to a great extent, to the progress of the others.
The Vice President also underlined the need to introduce children to mathematical calculation, languages and ICTs, as well as the ethical component that must be underlying it.
The education must be focused on humanisation , by teaching cooperation and not always competition, she added.
Meanwhile, she said that education must be at the service of development, peace, social harmony and the search for solutions to local, and perhaps global, problems.
In the context of the concern to provide better quality to education, the Vice President recalled II Extraordinary Meeting of Ministers of Education in 2022, which approved the Action Plan for Multilateral Cooperation in Education in the CPLP 2022-2024.
From this action plan, Esperança Costa referred to the holding in December 2022 of the II CPLP Seminar on Portuguese as a Second Language for Primary School Teachers, in the first quarter of 2023, of the I Joint Exercise of Inspective Practices in CPLP Education , as well as the holding, last March, of the CPLP Seminar on Good Practices on School Meals.
At the time when Angola took over the Presidency of the CPLP on July 17, 2021, underlined the Vice-President, the country elected the “Strengthening of Mobility among the Member States” and a special attention to the economic sector, as priority topics of its presidency.
Having, however, ratified the "Mobility Agreement" , looking, among other issues, at the advantages it confers in the specific field of mobility of students, teachers, researchers and scientists, within the framework of academic exchange.
On the specific level of education, she advanced that mobility should be seen as a critical axis to enhance and enrich experiences, facilitate mutual recognition and accreditation of studies, among other advantages.
As part of the global partnerships and implementation of the Action Plan, she defended closer ties with international organisations specializing in Education and international financial institutions, reinforcing multilateralism for inclusive development.
The meeting, which brings together members of the CPLP for the area of education, takes place under the theme, “Promotion of Educational Cooperation with a view to the Transformation of Educational Systems in the community”.
