CARIBISCH NEDERLAND – The minister for Primary and Secondary Education and Media, Arie Slob, will pay a working visit to the Caribbean Netherland from Monday January 13th to Wednesday January 15th . During these days he will be introduced to the local educational field. After his arrival on St. Maarten on Sunday evening January 12th the minister will subsequently visit Saba, St. Eustatius and Bonaire. Minister Slob will visit local primary and secondary educational institutes on each island, where he will speak to students.
On Saba, he will be welcomed by Island Governor Jonathan Johnson and Island Secretary Tim Muller. In the context of the program BES(t) 4 Kids, to strengthen pre-school and after-school care, he will also visit a daycare center on each of the islands. On Saba, a visit to the Expertise Center Education Care (EC 2) and the Queen Wilhelmina Library are scheduled as well. To conclude the visit on Saba, the minister will climb Mount Scenery, being the highest mountain of the kingdom at 887 meters above sea level.
On Tuesday the minister will reach St. Eustatius. Here he will, in addition to a meeting with the Central Government Commissioner Marcolino Franco and Deputy Commissioner Mervyn Stegers, visit all five schools and take a look at the museum of the Historical Foundation and the historical Fort Oranje (1636).
At the end of this day the delegation travels to Bonaire where they will be welcomed by Island Governor Edison Rijna and acting Kingdom Representative Jan Helmond.
On Bonaire the minister will also visit a number of schools and speak to students. At the Scholengemeenschap Bonaire (SGB) minister Slob and Commissioner Den Heyer will sign the second covenant on educational housing (‘Onderwijshuisvesting Bonaire’). The process of improvement of the educational housing in the Caribbean Netherlands has been running since 2012 and is funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW) and the three Public Entities.
