PEHIN Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi bin Haji Osman, the Minister of Education, recently attended the opening ceremony of the 49th Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) Council Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The SEAMEO Council Conference (SEAMEC) is a biennial meeting of education ministers from Southeast Asian countries.
This year’s conference, from July 24 to 27, is also attended by ministers from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Thailand; the senior minister of state from Singapore and the vice minister of education from Vietnam.
Associate members and affiliate members, directors and key officers from SEAMEO regional centres are also attending the conference.
At this year’s conference, the outgoing president of the SEAMEO Council, Dr Teerakiat Jareonsettasin MD, Thailand’s Minister of Education, handed over the Chairmanship of the Conference to Professor Dr Muhadjir Effendy, Indonesia’s Minister of Education and Culture, who will serve as the 49th President of the SEAMEO Council for two years.
In his opening statements, Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi highlighted the Literacy and Numeracy National Standards (LNNS) Project, as well as the Literacy and Numeracy Coaching Programme (LNCP), which his ministry has embarked on.
The LNNS was implemented to improve the level of English literacy and numeracy among Brunei school children and equip them for higher levels of schooling, while LNCP aims to make systemic improvements in the quality of teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy.
Meanwhile, the 49th SEAMEC has approved the establishment of three new regional centres: the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Technical Education Development (SEAMEO TED) hosted by Cambodia, the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Early Childhood Care Education and Parenting (SEAMEO CECCEP) hosted by Indonesia and the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Community Education Development (SEAMEO CED) hosted by Lao PDR. With these three new centres, SEAMEO has 24 regional centres and networks across Southeast Asia.
The SEAMEO 7 Priority Areas on education was addressed and discussed during the 3rd Strategic Dialogue of Education Ministers (SDEM3), during the second day of the conference.
Additionally, bilateral meetings between Pehin Orang Kaya Indera Pahlawan Dato Seri Setia Awang Haji Suyoi and his counterparts from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are expected to bring about an increase in education cooperation in areas such as teacher training, as well as technical and vocational education and training.
The minister and his delegation also visited SMK 27 Jakarta, a state vocational school in Indonesia.
Also in attendance was Datin Paduka Dr Hajah Romaizah binti Haji Mohd Salleh, the Permanent Secretary (Core Education) at the Ministry of Education.
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