By the Caribbean Journal staff

The British Virgin Islands has signed a Memorandum of Understanding on education matters with Hertfordshire County in the United Kingdom.

Last week, Education Minister Myron Walwyn met with Hertfordshire County Council education officials to exchange information and experiences in several areas of education.

Walwyn said the areas where he believed BVI could benefit the most were special-needs education, technical and vocational training and school governance.

“Education in the Virgin Islands is at a crucial point where concerns over standards, access and whether the system is truly preparing students to join the work force must be addressed,” Walwyn said. “At this point, we either continue as we have been doing or we muster the courage to tackle our system with the objective to reform it for the benefit of all members of the community to have access to equitable education.”

This is not the first MOU between the two parties — in 2009, Hertfordshire County officials signed a sports cooperation MOU with the BVI Olympic Committee.

“At the end of the meeting I was very confident that we do have very successful and resourceful partners who can assist us in our goal to reform our education system,” he said.

In November, Premier Dr Orlando Smith signed the MOU formalizing a twinning arrangement with the county.

It is part of a general policy by the UK government to develop closer relationships with the Overseas Territories.