Sixth Meeting of FOPREL’s Inter-Parliamentary Committee on Education & Health

Laura Tucker-Longsworth

Speaker of the House, Laura Tucker-Longsworth chaired a virtual meeting today for the Inter-parliamentary Committee on Education and Health of the Forum of Presidents and Presidents of the Legislative Powers of Central America, the Caribbean Basin and Mexico, also known as FOPREL.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss a regional prevention and response agenda on the adverse impacts of COVID-19 and other epidemiological events on the rights to education. Here’s a snippet of Tucker-Longsworth’s opening presentation as the chair of the Inter-parliamentary Committee on Education and Health of FOPREL.

Laura Tucker-Longsworth, President, Inter-parliamentary Commission for Health & Education, FOPREL

“In our region, and globally, the shortage of skilled health professionals threaten the stability of over-burdened health systems. In the midst of a severe health crisis, citizens are further impacted by limited access to healthcare services for chronic non-communicable diseases. This is worrisome. And we can expect to see an increase in morbidity and mortality related to uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension, heart and other conditions. In addition to health and economic problems, we are further burdened by an increase in gender-based violence and sexual violence in homes as a result of forced confinements to homes related to COVID-19.   The pandemic has exposed inequalities in education; the deficiencies of distance learning; the cost of the digital divide, as well as the essential roles played our schools in the health and well-being of our students.   We have had to re-examine our education systems in order to address these challenges. How do we strengthen the capacity of our education systems so that they can respond to the humanitarian crises? How can we ensure safe and inclusive access of children to the education system? Our priority today is to define those actions or programs that will guarantee the right to education for all our children in our region.”