Minister Jacobs: Happy World Heritage Day

1. Happy World Heritage Day!
“The Heritage of Education”
World Heritage Day also com- the fundamental human tasks.
monly known as International Day
for Monuments and Sites is cele- Several heritage properties on
brated every year on April 18 cel- our beloved “Souahliga” Land
ebrating the world’s built cultural of Salt linked to education have
heritage. UNESCO established reached national recognition
April 18 as the International Day and are about to reach inter-
for Monuments and Sites in 1983. national recognition and hope-
It aims to raise public awareness fully soon will be inscribed on
about the diversity and vulnerabil- the UNESCO World Heritage
ity of the world’s built monuments List: the sites of the Methodist
and heritage sites and the efforts Church, Brick Building, Meth-
required to protect and conserve odist Manse, Catholic Convent,
them. Each year has a different Fort Amsterdam and not forget-
theme which is selected and this ting the Sand Box Tree all have
year’s theme is “The Heritage of several things in common: they The Honorable Minister of
Education”. were institutions of impart- Education, Culture,
ing knowledge in St. Maarten’s Youth and Sports
religious practices, etc., formal
early development. The Meth-
education, and schooling, even-
odist Church served as the first Ms. Silveria Jacobs
tually followed. Schooling in this
institution to educate enslaved
sense was already in place in
Egypt between 3000 and 500
BP.
Throughout history and in dif-
ferent geo-cultural contexts,
education was practiced in a
wide range of places or build-
ings. Open spaces, agora or
the protective shadow of a tree
could be useful for the trans-
mission of knowledge, but also
specific institutional buildings
such as schools, universities,
madrasas, academies, libraries,
monasteries, etc. Many of those
buildings, groups of buildings or
The International Council on telling continued from one gen- sites are recognized as bearing
Monuments and Sites (ICO- eration to the next. Oral lan- not only social or institutional
MOS) in one of its communi- guage developed into written values but also historic or ar- Africans, Catholic Convent/ St. category of trees worthwhile of
qués recognizes that although symbols and letters. The depth tistic ones, and have therefore Joseph school with the Nuns being listed to be protected on
it is possible to find several were instrumental in educating the monument list.
definitions of education, all of a number of prominent per-
them refer to a form of learn- sons in our community, PJD2 In closing on this year’s World
ing knowledge, skills and habits in its early beginnings housed Heritage Day I am urging ev-
in which of a group of people at Fort Amsterdam was the ery citizen of my beloved St.
are transferred from one gen- institution that prepared many Maarten to reflect and ask the
eration to the next through local and regional journalists question: Am I properly in-
teaching, training or research. who have become recognized terpreting the values of those
Education also means the trans- internationally as journalist of cultural properties and pre-
mission of beliefs and values and outstanding capabilities on the senting them accordingly to
can therefore be considered as world stage and the Sand Box the younger generation of our
one of the main means for con- tree which has re-emerged as society? It boils down to two
structing the future. a local gathering area for com- simple proposition and obliga-
municating the concerns of na- tion which are:
In ancient civilizations, adults tional importance that are not Each generation is obligated to
trained the young of their soci- discussed in the main stream teach the future generation of
ety in the knowledge and skills media for whatever reasons. All the past and as Jomo Kenyatta
they would need to master. The and breadth of knowledge that become a significant part of our of the aforementioned cultural stated “Our children may learn
evolution of culture and human could be preserved and passed cultural heritage. The protec- properties linked to education about the heroes of the past.
beings as a species depended on soon increased exponen- tion and conservation of the and bearing historic, artistic or Our task is to make ourselves
on this practice of transmitting tially. When cultures began to heritage of education not only social values enjoy proper pro- the architects of the future.”
knowledge. In pre-literate so- extend their knowledge beyond implies preserving cultural as- tection and recognition with the
cieties this was achieved orally the basic skills of communicat- sets but also, at the same time, exception of the Sand Box Tree Happy World Heritage Day.
and through imitation; story- ing, trading, gathering food, celebrating education as one of which has to be elevated into a