Dato’ Dr Ahamad bin Sipon Director-Designate SEAMEO Secretariat Education Networking in Southeast Asia during the Colloquium for Humboldt Fellows and Awardees in Thailand “Regional Networking – a Chance for Science and Scholarship” 23-25 November 2007, Chiang Mai, Thailand Dato’ Dr Ahamad bin Sipon Director-Designate SEAMEO Secretariat

Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) 42nd year Governed by SEAMEO Council - Brunei Darussalam - Cambodia - Lao PDR - Indonesia - Malaysia - Myanmar - Philippines - Singapore - Thailand - Timor Leste; and - Vietnam Held back-to-back with the ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting

SEAMEO Eight Associate Members An Affiliate Member Australia Canada France Germany New Zealand the Netherlands Norway; and Spain An Affiliate Member International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) based in Norway

SEAMEO Oversees 15 SEAMEO Regional Centres Tropical Biology (Indonesia) History and Tradition (Myanmar) Educational Innovation and Technology (Philippines) Education in Science and Mathematics (Malaysia) Languages Centre (Singapore)

SEAMEO Regional Training Centre (Vietnam) Higher Education and Development (Thailand) Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (Philippines) Archaeology and Fine Arts (Thailand) Community Nutrition (Indonesia)

SEAMEO Microbiology, Parasitology and Entomology (Malaysia) Public Health (Philippines) Tropical Medicine (Thailand) Open Learning Centre (Indonesia) Vocational and Technical Education and Training (Brunei Darussalam)

SEAMEO One Network: Tropical Medicine and Public Health (Thailand) Secretariat in Bangkok

SEAMEO and Science Education in Southeast Asia Member States move towards the sciences, if not improving on their science curricula and perspective Recognizes the need to have adequate resources

SEAMEO and Science Education in Southeast Asia Keeps track of the fast changing trends in education Recognizes the need to help member countries improve their human resource capabilities

SEAMEO and Science Education in Southeast Asia Council expressed very enthusiastic prospects of building the region’s human infrastructure in education, science and culture Science education in member countries respects the necessity and significance of values in teaching and learning

Integration of ICT in Education Improvements in integrating (ICT) in educational systems Concerns on structural and geographical challenges

Integration of ICT in Education Indonesia, launched the Indonesia National ICT Education Network or Jardiknas Stresses the need to address ICT development in hardware, software and teacher training

Integration of ICT in Education Defining the roles of both the government and the private sector in sharing the responsibility of developing ICT networks for education purposes Concerns in protecting national values and in ensuring safe and ethical use of the Internet

Integration of ICT in Education Singapore shared its ICT master plan that integrates ICT into the curriculum Centres promote technology-aided education and instruction to ease teaching and learning and to introduce and integrate the technology into the structure and system of education

Integration of ICT in Education SEAMEO INNOTECH currently uses ICT-aided education such as Text-to-teach and iFLEX SEAMEO SEAMOLEC conducts training on technology and web-based distance learning such as the conduct of the web-based course development using moodels

Integration of ICT in Education SEAMEO VOCTECH is strengthening regional networks that offer training on managing ICT in institutions and maintaining competitive computer learning

Education for sustainable development ESD is about changing values and behaviors while emphasizing the core concepts of sustainable development such as knowledge in global warming, ozone depletion and preserving biodiversity, managing agriculture, fisheries and rural development,

Education for sustainable development promoting health, sanitation and environmentally responsible lifestyles and inculcating traditional Southeast Asian values in the midst of changing social influences Human Values-based Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Education in Southeast Asia (HVBWSE) that involved an inter-centre collaboration, with the support of the UN-HABITAT

Education for sustainable development Conducted a training course aimed to develop the competencies of teachers and education professionals by sensitizing them to HVBWSE, try out lesson plans and disseminate the knowledge to other teachers At the ministerial level and through 15 Regional Centres, ESD concerns are promoted through values, reorientation of education programmes and developing awareness

Education for sustainable development SEAMEO SEARCA proposes to enhance and strengthen the agricultural curricula of universities in the region SEAMEO BIOTROP is engaged in research and testing to sustain the tropical ecosystem and to find solutions to environmental problems.

Education for sustainable development The work of both SEAMEO SEARCA in agricultural competitiveness and natural resource management and SEAMEO BIOTROP in preserving ecology have a great significance in contributing to food security and poverty reduction

Tropical medicine, medical research and public health SEAMEO Tropical Medicine and Public Health Network or SEAMEO TROPMED/ Network has four regional centres attached to universities in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines Doing specialized scientific pursuits in tropical medicine, community nutrition, public health, and parasitology, entomology and microbiology

Tropical medicine, medical research and public health The Mahidol University Faculty of Tropical Medicine in Bangkok hosts the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Medicine and the central network office Germany, through the GTZ and the GTZ BACKUP Initiative, has an extensive partnership with this network, in particular, in its development programmes in capacity-building at the institutional and individual levels

Tropical medicine, medical research and public health Germany is a partner in the SEAMEO TROPMED Network’s programmes with the National Institute of Public Health in Cambodia and in hospital management training in Indonesia It also supports the network in strengthening the capacity of partner countries in improving a more effective global fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and in preventive education against these infectious diseases

Tropical medicine, medical research and public health SEAMEO TROPMED Regional Centres are also supported by partners such as Japan, the World Health Organization, UNICEF and a host of other international research and medical networks within and beyond the region.

Mathematics and Science Education Conducted a workshop on special mathematics and science high schools Analysed examination questions to establish the schools’ expectations and to compare their varying standards

Mathematics and Science Education Analysed Students’ performance in the exams was to establish and identify the factors that contribute to the gaps between expectation and performance Agreed to collaborate in improving the tests and helping regular schools improve math and science education

Mathematics and Science Education The experiences and success of these schools to improve the teaching of science and mathematics in the regular secondary school system Vietnam will host a regional seminar to discuss more deeply the quality of science and mathematics education in the region

Regional Cooperation in High Education Plan for a structured framework or network of higher education integration to raise awareness, list down priority areas of concern and organize summits to improve higher education Bring together the initiatives of Ministers of Education

Regional Cooperation in High Education Brings about a more common area of addressing the needs of the higher education sector, specifically in improving university governance, quality assurance, and functional cooperation through research and training Will not only provide a common space for higher education institutions and experts but the Southeast Asian region as an educational hub as well

Conclusion SEAMEO does not bask in its success in some areas of education, especially in science In majority of SEAMEO member countries, there is still an utter lack of learning facilities and infrastructure, both in school buildings and teaching staff and competencies

Conclusion The challenges will always be there in helping these member countries, but SEAMEO is always hopeful because of the many opportunities that help the organization improve education

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