The Greenland Education Programme

Parliament adopted the Greenland Education Programme (GEP) in 2005 in recognition of the low educational level in Greenland, which is viewed as an impediment to economic development and improvement of living conditions.

GEP’s overall purpose is to ensure that two-thirds of the work force has an education providing them with academic qualifications or vocational skills in 2020.

In its first phase (2006-2012) the GEP focuses on lower secondary school leavers who drop out of the educational system after graduation and on unskilled workers under 50 who are unemployed, in threatened trades and/or breadwinners for a family. In the second phase (2013-2020) the focus will be on higher education.

Expenditure on GEP was 9.0 million Euros in 2006, 26.4 million Euros in 2007 and 38,8 in 2008 and  is expected to be 51,5 million Euros in 2009.

Implementation of the GEP is supervised by the Executive Steering Committee, which has members from several ministries and from the Association of the Municipalities in Greenland. The secretariat of the GEP is presently located within the Ministry of Culture, Education, Research and the Church (MoCERC). The MoCERC is also responsible for the bi-annual debriefings to Parliament on the progress of the GEP.