WILLEMSTAD – Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science Robbert Dijkgraaf is doing a tour of the ABC islands this week.
In Curaçao he visited, among other things, the ‘Learning hotel’ for intermediate vocational education in the hospitality and tourism industry, which is under construction. “A very nice entrepreneurial initiative. Contact with practice is a great strength of middle management education or the so-called MBO," said the minister. At the University of Curaçao he spoke with students about the connection to education in the Netherlands and the history of slavery.
The minister also took a look at the maritime research institute Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity, Carmabi, which plays a major role in nature education and conservation such as coral reef restoration.
Prior to the official part of his working visit, Dijkgraaf was guided in Bonaire by journalist Bòi Antoin on Sunday. The minister's tweet about the "inhumane conditions" in which enslaved people were put to work in the salt pans, led (from the European Netherlands) to dozens of sour, sometimes downright racist comments.