The Diplomat
The King received yesterday at the Zarzuela Palace the management team of the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI), whose Secretary General, Mariano Jabonero, explained the strategic lines of work for the next two years.
According to the organization, apart from explaining the main lines of work for the next biennium in education, culture, higher education and science and in bilingualism and the dissemination of the Portuguese language, Jabonero explained to Philip VI the main responses of the OEI to the educational, cultural and scientific challenges that have arisen in Ibero-America since the outbreak of COVID-19.
The pandemic affected 177 million Ibero-American students in 2020 due to the closure of classrooms and at least two million jobs in the cultural sector, according to the OEI. For this reason, Jabonero explained, the organization “immediately” made available to governments, schools, universities, teachers, students and families almost half a thousand free digital and multimedia resources to guarantee the continuity of education, or at least mitigate the effects of the forced withdrawal from school. In addition, the OEI offered more than 1,000 scholarships to tutors and doctoral students to improve their digital skills and support them in converting face-to-face classes into virtual ones.
During the audience, the management team explained to the King the main lines of action of their respective areas. Among those attending the meeting were the Deputy Secretary General of the organization, Andrés Delich (Argentina); the Director General of Administration, Finance and Human Resources, Héctor Miralles (Spain); the Director General of the Office of the Secretary General, Martín Lorenzo (Argentina); the Director General of Culture, Natalia Armijos (Ecuador); and the Director General of Bilingualism and Dissemination of the Portuguese Language, Ana Paula Laborinho (Portugal).
This is the second audience that the King holds with the governing body of the OEI since Mariano Jabonero took office on July 1, 2018. On that occasion, on January 11, 2019, the year the OEI turned 70 years old, the Secretary General emphasized King’s “commitment, dedication and passion” for Ibero-America and had the opportunity to present the organization’s strategic lines of work during the first two years of his term (2019-2020).
