Carib Scope

分类： society

  • Prison reform ‘to target recidivism, rehabilitation’

    Prison reform ‘to target recidivism, rehabilitation’

    Barbados is moving forward with an ambitious, comprehensive overhaul of its national prison system, centered on shifting from a purely custodial model to one prioritized on rehabilitation, reduced recidivism and the dismantling of internal criminal networks, Home Affairs Minister Gregory Nicholls has announced. The initiative forms a core pillar of the country’s broader national crime prevention strategy, with a targeted focus on transforming Dodds Prison as the first major site of reform.

    Speaking on the second day of the Barbados Probation Service’s “Modern Perspectives on Sentencing and Penal Reform” symposium held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, Nicholls emphasized that failing to move beyond the outdated model of merely housing inmates would only perpetuate the cycles of crime that have long plagued the country. “Effective prison systems have to rehabilitate offenders, have to break the strength of the criminal networks inside the prisons and reinforce nonviolent norms and identities,” the minister stated.

    Nicholls pointed out that crime disproportionately impacts young men across Barbadian society, and the current largely custodial system has only strengthened criminal networks while failing to cut reoffending rates. To reverse this trend, he said, national security frameworks must be reformed to reduce community violence, with the modernization of penal institutions serving as a critical first step.

    A central target of the six-year transformation plan is cutting recidivism by 30 percent, reshaping traditional prisons into dynamic rehabilitation centers that improve offender reintegration, reduce in-prison violence and build stronger institutional resilience. To achieve this goal, the plan outlines multiple interconnected strategies, starting with the introduction of evidence-based programming designed to drive lasting behavioral change. These programs include structured rehabilitation courses, cognitive behavior therapy, substance abuse treatment, violence intervention training and conflict resolution workshops.

    Nicholls rejected the status quo of confining inmates to cells with only one to two hours of yard time daily as an ineffective approach that does nothing to prepare offenders for release. Instead, the reform plan embeds comprehensive education and skills training into daily prison routines, including Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) certification in high-demand fields such as construction, information and communications technology, agriculture and maritime skills. For inmates who have never earned formal basic qualifications, the system will also expand literacy and numeracy programming, and officials are currently reviewing a proposal from the University of the West Indies to establish a tertiary education pipeline that allows inmates to pursue higher education while incarcerated.

    The reform strategy also prioritizes targeting high-risk groups, including young men involved in gang activity, drug trafficking and firearms-related offenses who remain vulnerable to outside criminal influence even while incarcerated. Additional measures to cut in-prison violence include the launch of peer mentorship programs and the adoption of a formal restorative justice framework that centers accountability and healing over punitive isolation.

    A core end goal of the entire transformation is to ensure that offenders leave prison prepared to rejoin society as productive, contributing citizens. To support this, the plan establishes a national reintegration program that covers pre-release planning, stable housing placement, employment support and sustained connection with family members. An existing prison aftercare committee has been tasked with expanding its mandate far beyond its current role of providing basic clothing and small stipends to releasing inmates. The committee will now work directly with private sector businesses, non-governmental organizations and government bodies, drawing on national crime prevention budgets to develop sustained support programs for returning citizens.

    Nicholls also highlighted efforts to expand job placement partnerships with the private sector, create new apprenticeship opportunities for ex-offenders, strengthen second-chance employment frameworks and challenge the cultural taboos that create unnecessary barriers to work for people with criminal records. Completing the core reform priorities are plans to upgrade outdated prison infrastructure, increase and train staffing levels, and integrate smart security technology into daily operations.

    Speaking on the same panel alongside Nicholls, Dodds Prison Superintendent DeCarlo Payne reaffirmed the shared vision for reform, noting that the sector’s goal is no longer simply to contain people, but to prepare them for successful reintegration into community life. Payne outlined that several behavioral, educational and vocational training initiatives are already up and running at Dodds Prison, and these early programs have already begun to deliver positive results.

    Payne added that the current Prisons Act is archaic and ill-suited to the new model of corrections, meaning comprehensive legislative reform is a critical prerequisite for rolling out all planned changes. New operational frameworks including ankle monitoring for low-risk offenders, expanded parole, community service sentences and transitional housing all require formal monitoring structures, leading to calls for the establishment of a dedicated parole department.

    Payne emphasized that the full transition from a traditional prison service to a modern Department of Corrections will require targeted investment in infrastructure, formalized institutional restructuring and full implementation of new operational frameworks. While a corrections headquarters is already included in existing planning, Payne said officials will revisit the proposal to speed up its activation. Additional key priorities for the transition include policy reform, ongoing staff training, institutional cultural transformation, full technological integration, sustained investment in rehabilitation programming and focused, adaptive leadership across the sector.

  • Shark Attack Leaves Urlings Fisherman Fighting to Save Hand

    Shark Attack Leaves Urlings Fisherman Fighting to Save Hand

    A terrifying incident unfolded off the coast of Urlings on Tuesday, when a young local fisherman suffered life-altering severe injuries during a spearfishing trip that landed him in emergency hospital care. According to local reports, the fisherman was submerged in nearshore waters alongside two other spearfishing companions when the unprovoked shark attack occurred. The encounter left the man with extensive, traumatic damage to one of his hands, requiring immediate urgent medical intervention.

    Quick-thinking fellow fishermen working nearby responded to the emergency within minutes, pulling the injured man from the water and coordinating his transport to a local hospital for emergency care. As of the latest updates, the young fisherman remains in the hospital receiving ongoing treatment for his injuries, leaving the tight-knit local fishing community on edge.

    The attack comes amid a growing trend that has raised alarm across the coastal area: multiple local fishermen have reported a noticeable uptick in shark sightings in the nearshore waters surrounding Urlings over the past several months. This rising frequency of encounters has fueled growing anxiety over safety, not only for the hundreds of local workers who rely on the ocean for their livelihoods, but also for recreational users who frequent the area’s coasts for swimming, boating, and other water-based activities. Community leaders and local fishermen are now calling for formal assessments of shark activity in the region to develop new safety protocols that can prevent similar attacks from occurring in the future.

  • Air Canada Pilot Flew More Than 900 Passenger Flights Without Proper Licence

    Air Canada Pilot Flew More Than 900 Passenger Flights Without Proper Licence

    A stunning revelation has sent shockwaves through Canada’s aviation industry after it emerged that an Air Canada pilot flew more than 900 commercial passenger flights without holding the required professional operating license. The scandal, first uncovered by aviation regulatory investigations, raises urgent questions about the carrier’s internal safety screening processes and broader industry oversight protocols.

    According to regulatory sources familiar with the probe, the unlicensed pilot began operating commercial flights years ago, after incorrectly moving through the airline’s internal qualification checks. Over the course of their career at the flag carrier, they completed more than 900 revenue-generating passenger trips, carrying untold numbers of travelers across domestic and international routes. Air Canada has since confirmed that the pilot has been removed from flight duty pending the outcome of a full, independent investigation into how the lapse went undetected for so long.

    Transport Canada, the national agency responsible for aviation safety regulation, has launched its own parallel inquiry into the incident, saying it will review whether existing monitoring frameworks are robust enough to prevent similar oversights in the future. Industry safety experts have warned that the case exposes critical gaps in crew qualification verification, noting that unlicensed pilots operating commercial aircraft pose a significant, unacceptable risk to passenger safety.

    The incident has sparked public outcry across Canada, with passenger advocacy groups calling for sweeping reforms to aviation safety auditing processes. Air Canada has issued a public statement saying it is cooperating fully with all regulatory investigations and will implement immediate changes to its internal qualification checking systems to address any identified vulnerabilities. The carrier has also emphasized that it takes full responsibility for the oversight and is committed to restoring public confidence in its safety standards.

  • Masked Gunman Shoots Into Vehicle, Injuring Occupant

    Masked Gunman Shoots Into Vehicle, Injuring Occupant

    In the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday, a brazen shooting unfolded on Dickenson Bay Street that has left local law enforcement working to piece together the details of the attack and identify the perpetrator. A 4 a.m. act of gun violence left a man with facial injuries after a shooter opened fire directly into the car where he was sitting.

    According to initial accounts from the scene, the attacker was concealed by a mask and wore all black clothing, a disguise that has complicated early witness descriptions for investigators. The assailant walked up to the stationary vehicle, took aim at the window, and fired a single bullet that crashed through the glass.

    The flying shards of shattered glass from the bullet’s impact caused the facial wounds that the victim sustained. Emergency responders quickly transported the injured man to Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre, where he has already received medical attention for his injuries. As of Tuesday, no updates have been released on his current condition, and no suspects have been taken into custody in connection with the attack.

    Local police have confirmed that they are still actively investigating every angle of the incident, working to collect forensic evidence from the scene, interview potential witnesses, and track down the masked gunman responsible for the early morning attack.

  • Double murder accused walks

    Double murder accused walks

    In a landmark judge-alone trial delivered Friday, a Maracas St Joseph man facing charges for a high-profile 2020 double homicide has walked free after a High Court justice threw out the prosecution’s core evidence as fatally unreliable.

    Warren Small, 48, who also goes by the street names “Quincy” and “Blacks”, faced four total charges: two counts of murder for Darrie Simon and Sharlene Ramkissoon, plus unlawful possession of a firearm and matching ammunition. The two victims were killed in a brazen daytime shooting on March 3, 2020, outside a mini-mart at Acono Junction, Maracas, St Joseph, a case that shook the small local community for nearly four years.

    The entire prosecution case rested entirely on the testimony of Joseph Tinto, Darrie Simon’s mother, who was present inside the mini-mart during the attack. Tinto told the court she had known Small since he was a child, and claimed she was able to identify him when the gunman’s face covering slipped for a brief moment during the shooting.

    But presiding Justice Nalini Singh outlined multiple critical flaws in Tinto’s identification that cast irreparable reasonable doubt over the prosecution’s narrative. In her ruling, Singh noted that the gunman was almost fully concealed by a hooded sweatshirt and bandana throughout the incident, meaning any glimpse of his face could only have lasted a matter of seconds amid the chaos and terror of a sudden violent attack. Compounding this issue, Tinto was positioned behind a thick glass display counter inside the store at the time of the shooting, a barrier that the court ruled further distorted and compromised her ability to make a clear visual identification.

    Singh also highlighted conflicting testimony from a second independent eyewitness, Celine Rebeiro, who not only failed to identify Small as the gunman but also described the shooter as wearing dark sunglasses — a key detail that never appeared in Tinto’s account of the incident. Beyond the problematic eyewitness testimony, the court also called out significant investigative failures by law enforcement, including the complete absence of a formal police identification parade and a failure to conduct a prompt, official reconstruction of the crime scene to verify witness accounts.

    After weighing all the evidence, Justice Singh concluded that the crown could not overcome reasonable doubt over the identity of the actual shooter, and entered not guilty verdicts on all four counts against Small, resulting in his immediate discharge from custody. Prosecutors Shervon Noriega, Rebecca Trim-Wright and Khi Cambridge represented the State during the trial, while Small was defended by court-appointed defense attorneys Colin Selvon and Anastasia Weekes.

  • Electrician fined for trespassing on Lethem aerodrome

    Electrician fined for trespassing on Lethem aerodrome

    Updated Wednesday, June 10, 2026, at 7:22 a.m. by Denis Chabrol

    In a landmark enforcement of Guyana’s civil aviation safety rules, a local man has become the first person convicted of unauthorized trespassing on a hinterland aerodrome, just 10 days after national aviation regulators issued urgent public warnings about unsafe activity around the country’s remote airstrips.

    Forty-three-year-old Leonard Pompey, an electrician residing in Culvert City, Lethem, Central Rupununi, entered a guilty plea to one count of trespassing on the Lethem Aerodrome, a violation of Section 83(1) of Guyana’s Civil Aviation Act. Presiding over the case at the Lethem Magistrate’s Court, Magistrate Omadatt Chandan imposed a fine of GY$300,000. Pompey will face three months of imprisonment if he fails to pay the penalty within the required timeframe. The charge carries a maximum penalty of GY$1 million in fines and six months behind bars, underscoring the severity of aviation safety violations under Guyanese law.

    The conviction comes on the heels of a joint public appeal from the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the Aviation Operators Association of Guyana (AOAG) calling for heightened public accountability around all national airstrips and runways. The warnings were triggered by a disturbing incident reported in late May, when unidentified actors deliberately placed large rocks across the entire length of the Lethem Aerodrome runway. Regulators labeled the act as an unacceptable threat to aviation operations and the lives of passengers, crew, and remote communities that rely on Lethem’s air link for essential access to goods and services.

    Despite the urgent push for improved public safety awareness, a long-standing administrative gap has left required aerodrome warning signs gathering dust in the compound of the former Ministry of Public Works in Kingston’s Wight’s Lane for multiple years. The oversight comes amid a recent government restructuring that moved aviation oversight from the Ministry of Public Works to the newly created Ministry of Public Utilities and Aviation.

    In the wake of the conviction, the GCAA reaffirmed its commitment to protecting public safety, urging all Guyanese to treat every aerodrome as critical safety infrastructure. The authority asked community members to report any suspicious activity or threats to aerodrome operations directly to regulators, including anonymous reports via the GCAA’s dedicated safety hotline at 608-4222. “The safety of the travelling public remains our highest priority,” the agency stated.

    AOAG officials have emphasized that hinterland airstrips face far greater safety risks than major international hubs, making unauthorized activity especially dangerous. Most of Guyana’s remote runways are short, narrow, and unpaved, meaning pilots already operate with extremely limited safety margins, particularly during periods of heavy rain or poor visibility. Every foot of usable runway is critical for safe takeoffs and landings, and even small hazards can drastically increase the risk of a catastrophic crash.

    The association says it continues to receive frequent reports of reckless and dangerous behavior across airstrips nationwide. Common violations include motor vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians crossing active runways while aircraft are approaching or departing; leaving debris, glass bottles, and other foreign objects on runway surfaces; deliberately or accidentally placing stones and other obstacles on landing strips; using active runways as public thoroughfares or shortcuts; causing permanent damage to runway surfaces and shoulders from repeated vehicle traffic, which creates ruts, erosion, and narrows the usable landing area; and even law enforcement personnel using active runways for recreational games.

    “While these actions may seem trivial to people who do not work in aviation, they create life-threatening hazards for pilots, passengers, and entire remote communities,” the AOAG noted in its public warning. “A single discarded bottle, loose stone, uneven rut, or unexpected vehicle crossing can cause a pilot to lose control of an aircraft, trigger a propeller strike, blow a landing gear tire, cause irreparable structural damage, or result in a deadly crash. The consequences of these irresponsible acts are often irreversible.”

    Beyond the immediate risk of injury and death, such incidents can destroy aircraft valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, disrupt critical regional services, and leave long-lasting economic and social impacts on communities that depend on air travel for access to healthcare, education, and supplies. Irresponsible runway use also drives up operational costs across the entire Guyanese aviation sector: aircraft repairs, unplanned maintenance, flight delays and cancellations, insurance claims, and infrastructure repairs all ultimately raise the cost of air services for the hinterland residents who rely on them most.

  • Five arrested, guns seized after violent home invasion, robbery

    Five arrested, guns seized after violent home invasion, robbery

    Authorities in Guyana have taken five suspects into custody and recovered two unregistered .32 caliber pistols following a brazen early-morning armed home invasion and robbery in the GoodHope community, located along East Coast Demerara. Regional police made the announcement in an official statement released to the public on Wednesday, 10 June 2026.

    The incident unfolded at approximately 3:45 a.m. on Monday, when seven armed attackers targeted the residence of a 49-year-old self-employed man. Police records show the gang arrived at the property carrying an arsenal of weapons, including two firearms, cutlasses, and knives, according to witness accounts. After repeatedly striking the residence’s front door, witnesses reported hearing multiple loud blasts that investigators have classified as suspected gunfire. The attackers then forced their way inside the home, catching the sleeping family off guard.

    During the home invasion, the victim, his wife, and one of their daughters were physically assaulted by the suspects, according to preliminary investigative reports. After subduing the family, the intruders ransacked nearly every room of the property, stealing a cache of personal property including an assortment of jewelry, two mobile phones, an undisclosed amount of cash, and critical personal identification documents. As of Wednesday, the total monetary value of the stolen items has not yet been finalized.

    The victim managed to evade the attackers and alert local law enforcement shortly after the robbery. Responding police officers immediately arrived at the crime scene to secure the area and provide assistance, before escorting all three injured victims to the Enmore Regional Hospital for mandatory medical evaluations and treatment for their injuries.

    Following days of coordinated investigative work, law enforcement personnel executed a targeted search warrant at a property in Phase Two, GoodHope on Tuesday, 9 June 2026. During the search, investigators made a key discovery: the two .32 pistols were concealed inside a blue cookie tin stored at the location.

    Two suspects, a 21-year-old day laborer and a 33-year-old taxi driver, both residents of the GoodHope Squatting Area in East Coast Demerara, were taken into custody immediately following the search. Both remain in police custody as of Wednesday, helping investigators piece together details of the robbery and the gang’s broader activities. Subsequent follow-up inquiries led law enforcement to three additional co-conspirators, who have also been taken into custody. The investigation remains ongoing as police work to identify the two remaining attackers who have not yet been apprehended.

  • President Díaz-Canel visits Recycling Business Group units in Havana

    President Díaz-Canel visits Recycling Business Group units in Havana

    On Tuesday, June 10, 2026, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic of Cuba, conducted a scheduled working visit to two facilities operated by the Recycling Business Group (GER) in Regla, a municipality of Havana. The tour forms part of Díaz-Canel’s regular weekly engagements with strategic local entities that drive the island nation’s economic and social development, with a focus on advancing solutions to one of Havana’s most persistent public challenges: unmanaged solid waste.

    The president’s first stop was the Alfredo Ramonal Basic Business Unit (UEB), a facility specialized in the processing and sorting of non-ferrous waste. During a walkthrough of the facility’s operations, Díaz-Canel greeted frontline workers and received a detailed briefing on the unit’s performance amid ongoing economic and infrastructure challenges. He publicly commended the team for leveraging new opportunities for the domestic business sector to grow revenue even amid extremely difficult operating conditions.

    UEB Director Sadie Jiménez Condés shared details of the unit’s adaptive strategies with reporters following the meeting, noting that the operation has adjusted to prolonged power outages that disrupt raw material processing by implementing staggered work schedules and providing dedicated electric transportation for employees. Jiménez added that the president expressed particular interest in workforce retention and compensation, an area where the Alfredo Ramonal UEB has posted strong results: employee turnover remains near zero, with the full workforce consistently retained. Workers report high satisfaction with their compensation, which in turn drives consistent productivity.

    As of the end of May 2026, the UEB reports an average worker salary of 40,000 Cuban pesos and cumulative profits exceeding 3 million pesos. Díaz-Canel urged the unit’s leadership to reinvest these gains into refining operational processes, upgrading facility conditions, and addressing key worker needs including housing support. Looking ahead, the unit plans to roll out upgrades to raise production quality, including new mechanized crushing equipment for copper processing and the installation of independent power infrastructure for the facility’s can processing line. All processed raw materials from the Alfredo Ramonal UEB are sold with value addition to Desequip Company, the GER’s export-focused affiliate, before entering international markets.

    Following his visit to the UEB, the president traveled to Desequip, which handles all import and export activity for the GER under Cuba’s Ministry of Industries. At Desequip, he received an update on a groundbreaking locally developed waste management system that has been piloted in Havana in recent months. The project grew out of research conducted by Cuba’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), launched as part of a national priority initiative announced by Díaz-Canel in 2025 to reverse declining public hygiene conditions across Havana.

    Marian Herrera Delgado, a recovery team lead at the Havana Raw Materials Recovery Company who presented the initiative to the president, explained that the new system is designed to boost waste recovery rates through optimized process organization, eliminating the need for large capital outlays or additional workforce expansion. Early results from the pilot phase have already delivered an increase in export revenues, though organizers note key areas for further refinement, including the upcoming launch of a custom mobile app to coordinate operations and expanded engagement with local communities and non-state economic actors.

    In a key update shared during the briefing, GER executives confirmed that the successful pilot has positioned the new local waste management system for a national rollout, with plans to extend the framework to all other provinces across Cuba. In closing remarks, Díaz-Canel emphasized that the innovation—centered on more structured organization of waste dumping, collection and processing—represents a critical opportunity to convert what was once unmanaged waste into much-needed export revenue for the Cuban economy.

    The president also stressed that long-term success will depend on expanded grassroots organization at the neighborhood level, to ensure that individual residents, private businesses, state institutions and non-state economic actors all understand contractual terms, know the location of approved dumping and collection points, and can participate in a national shift toward widespread source separation of waste. This shift will allow the country to unlock additional value from materials that were once treated as valueless refuse.

    Tuesday’s tour of GER facilities aligns with Díaz-Canel’s ongoing focus on strategic sectors that underpin Cuba’s long-term progress, including food production, electrical grid recovery, digital transformation, energy transition and electric transportation, all areas that are central to the country’s ongoing development efforts.

  • Missing cruise crew member died after fall on Mount Liamuiga, Police confirm

    Missing cruise crew member died after fall on Mount Liamuiga, Police confirm

    BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – Local law enforcement has officially confirmed the cause of death for a missing Chinese hiker, Ziyuan Wang, a 33-year-old crew member from a visiting cruise ship, who died in a tragic accidental fall on St. Kitts’ iconic Mount Liamuiga earlier this year.

    Wang first went missing on May 27, 2026, after he set out to hike the mountain’s range alone, without an authorized guide, and strayed from the designated path. According to official records from the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF), Wang was last spotted on the main hiking trail at roughly 10:00 a.m. that day, wearing a black outfit and red footwear. By 2:00 p.m., the stranded hiker managed to place an emergency call to local 911 services to report he was lost, but all communication cut off immediately after the call, leaving rescuers with no further updates on his location.

    Within hours of losing contact, a large-scale multi-agency search and rescue operation was mobilized to locate Wang. The joint effort brought together personnel from the RSCNPF, the St. Kitts-Nevis Defence Force, national Fire and Rescue Services, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), and dozens of local volunteer groups. Search teams scoured large swathes of the rugged mountainside extending as far as the volcano’s crater, continuing search efforts through the evening of May 27 and resuming the operation at first light the following day. It was not until five days later, on June 1, that search crews located Wang’s body in a deep ravine far off the marked hiking route.

    A full post-mortem examination was carried out on June 9 to confirm the circumstances of his death. The examination results showed the 33-year-old died from severe trauma caused by a fall from a significant height. Investigators confirmed there is no evidence of foul play, and all findings align with the conclusion that his death is a tragic hiking accident. In the wake of the investigation’s conclusion, the RSCNPF released a formal statement thanking all participating agencies, volunteers, and community members who contributed their time and resources to the search operation.

  • Onderwijsvernieuwing vraagt meer dan nieuwe plannen alleen

    Onderwijsvernieuwing vraagt meer dan nieuwe plannen alleen

    On the second day of the 2026 National Education Congress held in Paramaribo, Suriname, education experts, policymakers and key stakeholders from across the sector united around a clear consensus: meaningful, long-lasting education reform requires far more than ambitious policy blueprints and good intentions—it demands coordinated structural strengthening of teachers, infrastructure, funding and governance alike.

    Hosted on Tuesday at the Royal Ballroom of Hotel Torarica, this year’s gathering centered on the overarching theme “Education: The Path from Poverty to Growth and Progress,” framing education reform as a core driver of national economic and social advancement. Per official updates from the Communication Service of Suriname, breakout sessions and plenary discussions repeatedly emphasized that sustainable transformation demands a cohesive, cross-cutting approach, rather than piecemeal changes. This approach must address not just improving student learning outcomes and teacher professional development, they argued, but also the foundational enabling conditions that make quality education accessible to all.

    Attendees highlighted a range of non-negotiable prerequisites for effective reform: from supportive learning environments, up-to-date learning materials, functional school furniture and modern educational infrastructure to robust digital tools and clear career advancement pathways for education staff. A particularly urgent priority raised during discussions was boosting competitive compensation for teachers, a step designed to stem the growing tide of educator outflow to other domestic sectors and employment opportunities abroad.

    Leading education expert Ivan Fernald opened one of the congress’ keynote sessions by stressing that overall education quality is directly tied to the quality, professional standing and institutional support given to classroom teachers. “The quality of our education system stands or falls with the quality of our teachers, the recognition they receive, and the support we provide them,” Fernald told delegates. He emphasized that no education innovation can succeed without properly equipped, motivated educators, and called on leaders to move beyond rhetorical ambitions, set clear actionable priorities, and track progress through measurable outcome targets.
    Fernald further noted that education transformation is a shared responsibility of the entire Surinamese society, not one that falls exclusively to the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. He added that educators themselves have historically been insufficiently included in the design and rollout of major systemic changes to the education system—a gap that must be closed for reform to work.

    Across panel discussions, delegates echoed the need for collaborative decision-making and collective vision to advance durable reform. Hans Lim A Po, Rector of the FHR Institute for Higher Education, emphasized that societies lacking a shared, unified vision for education struggle to build meaningful, long-term progress. Former Education Minister Marie Levens added that Suriname already possesses the necessary local expertise and knowledge to drive successful reform; what is needed now, she argued, is a deliberate choice to adopt an education model aligned with the country’s unique needs and on-the-ground realities, rather than importing systems ill-suited to Suriname’s context.

    By the close of the second day of proceedings, delegates reached a unified conclusion: education reforms in Suriname will only deliver lasting positive outcomes if they are implemented systematically, and keep the well-being and holistic development of learners and educators at the center of all policy and practice.