(Basseterre, St. Kitts) On Tuesday, May 16, at 9:00 a.m. at the Ocean Terrace Inn the Ministry of Education held the opening of Knowledge Management Network.
The purpose of the launch is to bring awareness on the focus of OERU regarding Knowledge Management in the sub-region.
Present at the launching were the members of the National Knowledge Management committee: John Charles - Chairman, Douglas Wattley - Permanent Secretary, Public Sector Reform, Jennifer Hodge -Principal Education Officer in Nevis.
Laurence Richards-Projects Co-ordinator for Schools Computer Project, Quinton Morton - Director, EMIS, St. Kitts-Nevis, Rita Cable - Senior Education officer, Veronica Fyfield-Education Officer and Patrick Welcome - Ex-Officio.
"OERU wishes to establish an OECS Education Knowledge Management Network among member states," Charles said.
"But please understand, therefore that the Ministry of Education is only initiating this network on the local front, there is scope for the expansion of this network in order to bring the sub-region closer together."
He also said that at the moment access to education, knowledge and information in every Member States are not done without enduring some pain and involving a number of persons in the search process.
OERU's vision for an OECS Knowledge Management Network encompasses a system that facilitates a smooth flow of information between Member States.
"Thus eliminating bottlenecks, chaos etc. and enhancing greater efficiency in the final analysis," the chairman of the National Knowledge Management said.
The OERU definition of an efficient Knowledge Management System Incorporates the following Characteristics: permits easy access to information, facilitates retrieval of information.
Enables utilization of information, enables transmission of information to successor, and provides available and reliable information.
Also facilitates the transfer of information between sectors of Government and it will also improve the flow of statistical information required by different Ministries.
Both information and knowledge when properly managed can be useful in the following ways: They have implications for decision making, providing indicators of success or failure and enables intervention measures to be taken.
Facilitates the establishment of data bases and can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of management practices that can quicken the preparation of documents and so on.
Veronica Fyfield spoke about current projects in the Ministry of Education, while Osmond Petty -Permanent Secretary in Education gave the overview of OECS Knowledge Management.
Quinton Morton gave a presentation, while a presentation and discussion of Knowledge Management Action Plan was done by Rita Cable.
The Basseterre High School did a Musical selection shortly after the Hon. Sam Condor gave the feature address.
