WILLEMSTAD - Education Minister Sithree van Heydoorn was unpleasantly surprised by the letter that the school boards recently sent to the State Secretary for Kingdom Relations, the Kingdom Relations Committees of the Senate and Second Chamber and the Dutch Minister of Education.
The Curaçao minister cannot understand the timing, the tone of the letter on the points where it concerns his responsibility, and in his view unjust insinuations.
The letter containing the concerns of the school boards FSHP (Fundashon Skol Humanista na Papiamentu), SCONS (Foundation for Christian Education New Song), RKCS (Roman Catholic Central School Board Curaçao), VPCO (Association for Protestant Christian Education), IFE (Instituto pa Formashon den Enfermeria), EBG (Evangelische Broedergemeente) and SOZDA (Education Foundation for the Seventh Day Adventists) came like a bolt from the blue.
“Certainly, because you apparently did not find it worthy to include the Minister of OWCS as the politically responsible minister when your letter was sent to the above-mentioned addressees,” Van Heydoorn complains in his letter to the seven school boards.
Old news
According to the minister, the concerns of the educational field are not new. Moreover, he has given them the opportunity to come up with constructive solutions. Finally, the minister says that within the framework of the National Package, the entire education system is being screened. Based on the baseline measurement, an action plan is established to tackle the bottlenecks. This is done in collaboration with the Netherlands.
The school boards complain, among other things, about the considerable backwardness in education. They have been trying for more than a year now to draw attention to the introduction of a national education plan such as in the Netherlands. There is also a need for structural maintenance of the school buildings.
Consultation
Today Van Heydoorn is meeting with the school boards. On the agenda is the relationship between the Ministry of Education and the school boards and the communication between them.