In what was described by the Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Geoffrey Hanley, as a ‘game-changing”development, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)was signed on 18th October, 2024 between the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis, through the Ministry of Education, and the Open University of Tanzania (O.U.T).The contract heralds the opening of new doors of opportunities for teachers in the Federation through the provision of scholarships towards Bachelor’s as well as Master’s degrees in Education.The MOU was signed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Hon. Dr. Geoffrey Hanley and Professor Elifas Tozo Bisanda, Vice Chancellor of the Open University of Tanzania during a virtual ceremony.This historic signing ceremony was witnessed by MOE official Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Lisa Pistana; along with Ms. Dorothy Warner, Secretary General of the St. Kitts and Nevis National Commission for UNESCO and Dr. David Doyle, Ambassador of St. Kitts and Nevis to UNESCO.
During the virtual signing ceremony, brief remarks were delivered by the Project Focal Point, Dr. KertneyThompson, Chief Executive Officer, TVET, and the OUT Representative, Dr. Janeth Kigobe, Coordinator UNESCO Chair on Teacher Education and Curriculum and Coordinator Master Education in Curriculum Design and Development.The genesis of this initiative was kick-started in November 2023 in Paris, when Minister Hanley attended the UNESCO General Conference, accompanied by Ms. Warner and Ambassador Doyle. Months of negotiations ensued with the Open University of Tanzania, guided by UNESCO, to work on a programme offering access to the University’s Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees, aimed at strengthening the capacities of teachers in education and training provision, management, research, monitoring and evaluation.
The intention of the Ministry of Education is to facilitate access to these remote-based degree programmes for the teaching force employed by the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis. The Ministry of Education envisages the registration of an initial cohort of 20 teachers to the OUT Bachelor’s of Education in Curriculum Design and Development Degree programmes. In total, some 80 primary and secondary school teachers in St. Kitts and Nevis, most of whom hold associate degrees from the University of West Indies, could potentially be included in the OUT Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes over the coming years.Minister Hanley stated, “The Ministry of Education continues to work assertively to ensure that St. Kitts and Nevis’ teacher education and professionalisation programmes and frameworks are designed and developed to help an increasingly large proportion of unqualified teachers acquire the required qualifications and attain the standards of professionalisation within a determined period, in line with the policy recommendations outlined by the UNESCO experts”. “As the Minister of Education, I view the Open University of Tanzania’s on-line Bachelor’sDegree programme as an optimal and pragmatic route in raising the formal, basic qualification and training necessary for our teaching force – largely comprising females – to stem the tide of a variety of teaching and learning situations, and respond also to crises , such as pandemics, natural disasters etc.”The Minister underscored that the successful completion of the OUT courses by a growing proportion of the teaching force would constitute a significant and timely scaling-up of the academic qualifications needed in St. Kitts and Nevis, as the country is transformed into a sustainable island state”.National Commission Secretary-General, and a former long-standing teacher, Ms. Warner added: “Education transcends the country’s economic, social and financial strategy enshrined in our quest to transform our small island state economy, relying on a dedicated qualified, skilled and knowledgeable workforce. And teachers play a pivotal role”.Ambassador Doyle, based at UNESCO in Paris commented: “The OUT agreement is a poignant example of successful South-South and triangular development practices, pioneered by UNESCO. This initiative comes alongside a number of other interrelated education policy measures which St. Kitts and Nevis is implementing with UNESCO’s expertise and advice. This includes the development of a National Teacher Qualification Framework to guide teacher recruitment, and the development of a framework for the accreditation of higher college qualifications”. Vice-Chancellor of the OUT, Professor Elifas TozoBisanda, stated, “OUT has the capability to offer its academic programmes to learners anywhere in the world, as it has a strong e-learning management system. Up to now, OUT has graduated learners from more than 50 countries worldwide, coming from nearly every continent. OUT provides a flexible education system that allows students to write their examinations and tests at any time (On-demand examinations), and successful candidates can graduate at any time (On-demandgraduation). Our collaboration with St Kitts and Nevis, two small islands in the Caribbean opens the door to many similar initiatives with other island–states worldwide”. The UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Education, Ms. Stefania Giannini, has long acknowledged the importance of the proposed teacher training initiative negotiated between the St. Kitts and Nevis Ministry of Education and the Open University of Tanzania as a means of contributing to quality education. Since 2011, the UNESCO’s International Bureau for Education (IBE) has been partnering with, inter alia, the Open University of Tanzania to offer accredited Bachelor/Master’s and/or Postgraduate Diploma courses in Education and Curriculum, which have trained approximately 400 curriculum practitioners from 80 countries.