The efforts of the Organisation of Educational Cooperation (OEC) and the Government of the Republic of Nicaragua to build together new routes to achieve development through education is a significant event in the Central American country these days.
A delegation of the OEC, led by its Secretary-General, H.E. Mr. Manssour Bin Mussallam, begins an official visit to the Republic of Nicaragua on 21 March at the invitation of the Nicaraguan Government.
The meeting between the head of the OEC and the President, H.E. Daniel Ortega, will generate great expectations, as it will open the doors to the collective construction, from the South, of a third way of development for the welfare of citizens through the promotion of deeply inclusive educational projects.
Until 24 March, the OEC delegation will also meet with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic, H.E. Denis Moncada, the Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Arlette Marenco, and the Minister of Education, H.E. Prof. Lilliam Herrera.
The planned schedule, which includes meetings with the Advisor to the President for Education, H.E. Salvador Vanegas, should lead to the articulation of a common roadmap for the exchange of knowledge and coordination of action for progress.
It will also be possible to hear the testimony of the Nicaraguan people on the initiatives and policies undertaken by the Government of Reconciliation and National Unity to fulfil the commitments contained in the Universal Declaration on Balanced and Inclusive Education (UDBIE).
The interests, motivations and aspirations of young people, as makers of the future, will be discussed during the exchange with the President of the National Union of Students of Nicaragua, Carlos Eduardo Díaz, and members of his council.
Precisely the OEC’s drive to put in place a powerful and original integration narrative was expressed by its Secretary-General during the signing of the UDBIE on 29 January 2020 in the Republic of Djibouti.
“We have this task, that is unique and peculiar, in that we know that we can only make sure that the world does not unmake itself by unmaking the systems which have led the world to the brink of unmaking itself, so as to eventually, indeed, remake it.” Bin Mussallam assured the meeting.
At the meeting, Nicaragua described the OEC as an ‘extraordinary initiative’ and was pleased to be a founding member and stated: “We are certain that education is a fundamental tool to continue deepening the transformation and improving the quality of life of families around the world’s”.
A conviction reaffirmed by Managua, since in the framework of OEC’s first General Assembly, held in December 2021 in Geneva, the Ministry of Education stressed in a message the “commitment in the search for new opportunities to strengthen our education systems for the formation of new generations and for fairer and more inclusive societies”.
This is the first mission of the Secretary-General to one of the 27 Member States of the ‘Voice of the South’, and comes after the approval by Nicaragua’s National Assembly , in June 2020, of the ratification of the Organization’s Constitutive Charter, as part of the country’s aspirations to achieve equitable and sustainable development through education.
