Empowering Education for Pacific People

COL presented at the Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) in Auckland, New Zealand under the theme “Empowering Education for Pacific People.” CPEM’s primary focus is to assess the region’s progress towards the Pacific Regional Education Framework and 2030 Agenda goals. Ministerial delegations from all nine Commonwealth small island developing countries were present. Professor Asha Kanwar delivered a detailed presentation on building resilience, while COL’s Vice President, Dr V. Balaji, joined the roundtable on financing. Conference organisers highlighted COL’s initiatives and approaches for blue and green skills, the importance of continued investment in teacher capacity building and the need for flexibility in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) pathways.

Since 2020, COL has implemented a regional project supported by New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to build teachers’ and TVET institutions’ capacity for using open, distance and flexible learning.