University of St. Martin
PHILIPSBURG--University of St. Martin (USM) will host the fourth edition of its 2019-2020 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seminar series, co-sponsored by the Department of Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations BAK and UNESCO St. Maarten, on Tuesday, February 11.
Doors to USM Lecture Hall 202 will be open to the public at 6:30pm, USM announced in a press release on Monday.
With a focus on education and lifelong learning, USM hopes to have the public engage in serious dialogue about the importance of training courses and programmes in diverse areas of trade for adults and senior citizens, according to the release.
USM President Antonio Carmona Báez expressed his excitement about the lecture series, especially about continuing education. “St. Maarten has seen many attempts at marketing training courses and programmes for those already working and/or the underemployed. Perhaps tonight we can talk about sustainable projects and durable partnerships in lifelong learning,” he said.
Guest speakers scheduled to address the public on Tuesday night are St. Martin Training Foundation (SMTF) Programme Director Sergio Wolff and St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) Patient Care and Education Department Manager Antonio Pantophlet.
USM teamed up with SMTF in 2019 to offer courses in English-language competency and the history, culture and traditions of St. Maarten/St. Martin to adults whose employability was affected by Hurricane Irma.
SMMC’s Education Department offers practical training designed to meet the students’ personal and social expectations, which in return will allow them to achieve their educational goals in a meaningful manner. Through internship programmes, SMMC trains an average of 100 students each year from St. Maarten/St. Martin, Saba, St. Eustatius, Curaçao and the Netherlands.
Government will be represented at the seminar by Janelle Presentacion-James of the Division for Educational Innovation, and Daison Marks and Georgianne Adriana Henriquez of the Division of Public Education.
Carmona reiterated the specifics of the SDG 2030 United Nations (UN) platform, to which the topic of Education belongs. “Quality Education is sustainable development goal 4, which includes training and accessibility to education. But education is, of course, related to poverty eradication (SDG 1), gender equality (SDG 5) and decent work and economic growth (SDG 8). Access to quality education really affects all aspects of life and development,” he said.
