Kia Orana.

Turou and welcome to the Cook Islands Ministry of Education website. The launching of the Ministry of Education’s website is a significant transformation in processing, accessing and creating information.  It certainly opens new doors to our community of learners. I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the team at the Ministry who has worked hard to develop this Website. The Website is both a response to numerous requests from schools and the general public. It is also an acknowledgement of the need for stakeholders locally and internationally to access information related to developments in Education in the Cook Islands. In browsing through the web-pages that follow, I sincerely hope that you will find the information useful and relevant.

This occasion also marks the  launching of the 15 year Education Sector Strategic Plan 2008-2023 with its mission of achieving equitable access to quality learning opportunities for Cook Islanders.  This is a milestone in education for the people of our country. For our people, providing relevant Education into the future promises to be a time of challenge and opportunities for exploration and discovery.  It will also be a time of significant transformation in the mindset of the community at large, from a teaching to a learning community that embraces life-long learning in the realization of a community of learners who are also reflective thinkers. 

Central to attending to the needs of our people, is the Ministry’s firm commitment to developing the capacity of all Cook Islanders, because the strength and indeed the wealth of a nation lies in the resourcefulness of its people. The notion and ideal of the learning community by definition clearly implies that all people within the community – young and old, rich and poor, parents and children, employers and employees - are learners for life. Simply put, if we as Cook Islanders are to cope with tomorrow’s world, then both  formal and informal education “institutions’ in-country must embark on creating learning opportunities that are challenging, innovative and reflective of the new times.  That is the challenge for our people. With a combined effort in the resourcefulness of all sectors in the wider community, I am confident that the goals of the Education Sector Strategic Plan will be achieved, as we walk into the future.