The Minister of Education, Thailand reports on His Excellency's official visits to the SEAMEO Member Countries and presents recommendations to SEAMEO while the Secretary of Education, Philippines, in his acceptance speech as new SEAMEO Council President, shares his insights on engaging communities for educational development, related initiatives in the Philippines and regional thrusts he intends to pursue as concurrent SEAMEO Council President.

"The greatest potential of SEAMEO lies in its pool of experts, its vast networks of institutes and hundreds of alumni. SEAMEO and its Centers have accumulated wide-ranging experiences, data, information and knowledge, both published and unpublished, anchored on national and regional practices, and strengthened by groundbreaking and homegrown research and development activities."

During the 37th SEAMEO Council Conference held March 2002 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, then Minister of Education, Thailand, His Excellency Mr Suwit Khunkitti assumed his post as President of the SEAMEO Council. During the conference, the Ministers also signed the Declaration on Regional Cooperation on Quality and Equity in Education, a project initiated by Thailand which gave birth to the Regional Coalition of Schools on Quality and Equity in Education (RCS-QEE).

His Excellency Mr Suwit Khunkitti carried out his duties from March until September 2002. After which, His Excellency Mr Pongpol Adireksarn was appointed Minister of Education and was subsequently tasked to complete Thailand's term of Presidency of the SEAMEO Council.

In the tradition of SEAMEO, the SEAMEO Council President officially visits all SEAMEO Member Countries and Centres to ensure linkage between the policy body and the implementing units; to increase his own understanding of situation and needs of the region; to meet and have discussions at the Regional Centres; and to promote the visibility of SEAMEO.

With only five months to complete Thailand's term, His Excellency Mr Pongpol Adireksarn accomplished these brief but purposeful visits.

From my visits to all SEAMEO Member Countries and the discussions with my colleagues in the Ministries of Education, I am pleased to note that all SEAMEO Member Countries have continually improved the delivery system and raised the standard of national education based on each country’s respective situation and needs. Greater emphasis is being given to the challenges of quality and equity in education. ICT is being adopted as a tool to enhance effective learning in all the schools I visited, particularly in the subjects of Math, Science, and English, including projects which encourage creativity and discovery. Child-centered, the learning process has become more enjoyable to both pupils and teachers.

I have met many intelligent, creative, and inquisitive students from primary and secondary schools. One Indonesian Grade Four girl pupil asked me why the elephant became a symbol of Thailand. I had to explain to her how elephants in the past served Thailand’s national security both in time of peace and in time of war. In Vientiane, a young girl, told me about her dream of becoming a doctor and it inspired me to try and do my best to see that her wish could come true. I have also met many members of the local communities whose active participation in enhancing the quality of schools were inspiring. Many hardworking and dedicated teachers and principals were kind enough to allow me into their classrooms and engage me in candid discussions. I have discovered the rich traditions and cultural diversity of our region, the many artistic talents, and creativity of SEAMEO students, such as those from the Philippine High School for the Arts. I met a Grade Three student whose painting, a portrait of herself and her sister, captured my heart that I had to persuade her to sell it to me. I danced with Lao and Myanmar students and enjoyed the rich repertoire of primary school students in Vietnam and Indonesia.

I have also learned about our region’s rich biodiversity and advancements in agro-technology during my visits to SEARCA, BIOTROP and the Belalong Tropical Research and Field Studies Centre in Brunei. I have met experts and researchers in the fields of Tropical Medicine, Community Nutrition, Microbology, Parasitology, Public Health, and HIV/AIDS Prevention. The greatest potential of SEAMEO lies in its pool of experts, its vast networks of institutes and hundreds of alumni. SEAMEO and its Centers have accumulated wide-ranging experiences, data, information and knowledge, both published and unpublished, anchored on national and regional practices, and strengthened by groundbreaking and homegrown research and development activities. I encourage the Ministries of Education and the Governments of SEAMEO to make full use of these experiences and expertise and harness them to respond to our regional challenges and demands.

With the greater involvement of the Greater Mekong Sub-region Countries in SEAMEO activities, I would like to underscore the importance of addressing their specific developmental needs. The annual scholarship allocation from the Centres seems not to be sufficiently responsive to their training needs. I think that we should think of new and innovative ways of providing training; for example, instead of bringing in two or three participants from the GMS Countries to be trained at the Regional Centres, we can bring in the Centres’ resources and expertise to these countries instead and set up an integrated field training so that they will have the facility to train their personnel in SEAMEO’s fields of specialization. Empowered, each country then will be able to mobilize the assistance of the Centres’ alumni to help organize and conduct training courses.

Another important point I would like to bring to the attention of the SEAMEO Council is the importance of partnership, linkages, and closer collaboration with Regional Organizations and Centres whose objectives and activities are similar to those of SEAMEO. I am referring in particular to ASEAN whose membership is exactly the same as our organization and has recently expanded activities to include education, science, and culture. ASEAN, being under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has certain advantages and limitations in carrying out research and training activities. SEAMEO, on the other hand, as the Ministers of Education very own organization, operates more effectively in academic and educational areas. If SEAMEO can collaborate more closely with ASEAN, we can optimize all our resources for the greater benefit of our people.

News clippings: H E Mr Pongpol Adireksarn, SEAMEC PRESIDENT

Manager Online [5 March 2003]
Matichon [26 January 2003]
SEAMEO RETRAC Newsletter [Vol. 1 No. 1 September 2003]