{"id":252210,"date":"2017-05-15T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2017-05-14T20:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=252210"},"modified":"2017-05-15T06:00:08","modified_gmt":"2017-05-14T20:00:08","slug":"rmi-focuses-improving-childrens-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/rmi-focuses-improving-childrens-education\/","title":{"rendered":"RMI focuses on improving children\u2019s education"},"content":{"rendered":"

KWAJALEIN ATOLL, Marshall Islands<\/strong>\u2014A first of its kind, the Kwajalein Atoll Education Summit took place on April 26 and 27 on Ebeye Island, Kwajalein Atoll, in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. The summit was themed \u201cCharting our Course: Our Child, Our Hope\u201d and provided a venue for meaningful presentations, workshops and dialogue to take place around improving education for the children of Kwajalein Atoll.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Keynoted by RMI President Hilda Heine and funded through the Compact of Free Association, with grant assistance provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior\u2019s Office of Insular Affairs, the summit\u2019s aim was to empower local communities, enabling them to begin their children\u2019s education at home and continuing in the classroom, leading toward post-secondary and vocational education.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

In her remarks, Heine reminded participants of the RMI government\u2019s commitment to the education and development of Marshallese children, commended Kwajalein leadership, and hoped to see similar discussions and engagement replicated across the Marshall Islands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The event was coordinated through public and private partnerships and brought together primary, secondary and postsecondary level educators, the RMI Ministries of Education, Foreign and Internal Affairs, NGOs, other government agencies including many from Ebeye, Kwajalein Atoll, Majuro, Hawaii and California.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among the topics covered in breakout sessions during the two-day summit were curriculum, accreditation, vocational skills training, and scholarship opportunities for both students and teachers with the College of the Marshall Islands and model schools. Discussions were also held on the importance of parental and community involvement in their children\u2019s education as well as teen health and teen pregnancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cReactions from parents attending this summit brought tears to my eyes, and I hope this great initiative has triggered awareness not only in Ebeye but across other Kwajalein Atoll communities,\u201d said Jelton Anjain, Kwajalein Atoll associate commissioner. \u201cI know our collective efforts and hard work paid off when parents, impressed by what they have learned, approached me with their commitment to work more closely with the PTA in improving education for their children.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI applaud the Ebeye community for their focus on improving student performance and educational outcomes,\u201d said acting assistant secretary for Insular Areas and Joint Economic Management and Financial Accountability Committee chair Nikolao Pula. \u00abRMI Ministry of Education officials have made excellent presentations to the\u00a0JEMFAC on the RMI Education Strategic Plan, and I am pleased to see these discussions are spreading to the community level.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stakeholder participants in the meeting hope to retain momentum, while initiating a five-year strategic plan for the Kwajalein School System that includes private, parochial and public schools.\u00a0 The success of the summit reflected a truly collaborative effort and commitment to educational improvement in Ebeye. Leadership in the RMI plans to make the summit an annual event.\u00a0 \u2028<\/p>\n

The Ebeye School System, which includes students in K-12 from across the Kwajalein Atoll, including Gugeegue, Ebadon, Mejatto, Ennibur and Carlos islands, has 3,112 students, and next to the Majuro Atoll School System, is the second largest in the Marshall Islands. (PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KWAJALEIN ATOLL, Marshall Islands\u2014A first of its kind, the Kwajalein Atoll Education Summit took place…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[16778,16779,137,2687],"class_list":["post-252210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pacific","tag-jelton-anjain","tag-jemfac","tag-marshall-islands","tag-rmi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252210\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}