Final
Report: 39th SEAMEO Council Conference
The Empire Hotel and Country Club, Jerudong
Negara Brunei Darussalam
1-4 March 2004
The Empire Hotel and Country Club, Jerudong
Negara Brunei Darussalam
1-4 March 2004
Proceedings
Contents |
| Proceedings |
| Appendices |
Statement
by H E Dr Adisai Bodharamik Minister of Education, Thailand and Head of the Thai Delegation |
Mr President of the SEAMEO Council and Chair of the Conference, Distinguished Members of the Council and High Officials, SEAMEO Regional Center Directors, Ladies and Gentlemen, |
On
behalf of the Thai Delegation and on my own behalf, may I extend
to you our warmest congratulations on your election to the presidency
of SEAMEO Council and the chairmanship of the thirty-ninth Council Conference. Under your able leadership, I am confident that this organization will continue to provide responsive guidance in human resource development in the region. May I also take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to Dr Edilberto de Jesus , Secretary of Education of the Philippines and out-going President, for his strong commitment and excellent work during the past year. |
| Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, |
National
development depends on the capacity of human resources and education
is the key to human capacity building. Therefore, when I assumed
the post of Minister of Education of Thailand in November last year,
I started to rethink a more responsive strategy to enhance human
capacity through education reform. I have set up three main strategies
for the current education reform of Thailand namely: accessibility;
quality of education; and upgrading educational standards for international
competitiveness. |
With
regard to accessibility, Thailand’s reform process aims to
ensure the provision of education to all Thai citizens. We are approaching
this challenge in a number of ways. In May this year, we will raise
the number of years of free schooling from 12 to 14 years, from
kindergarten to high school. In addition, opportunities have been
created for those with special needs, particularly the disadvantaged
and handicapped as well as gifted children. Expanding learning opportunities
for all age groups including adults is another concern. Students
must learn continuously over their life times, keeping up with developing
technologies and responding to changing labor market demands. We
have increased access to vocational education institutions for young
people in remote areas where previously there was little opportunity
to go on to higher education. Furthermore, we are devising ways
to retain our smaller and more remote schools wherever possible.
Many of these schools lack resources, and to address this, we have
increased the budget, and are providing free textbooks and mobile
computer centers. |
The
next key to the success of education reform is improving quality
and here we are focusing on teacher development and curriculum.
SEAMEO Regional Centres are ideally placed to assist Member Countries
in upgrading our teachers’ capacity in specialized areas.
Curriculum development has also received attention. It will now
emphasize sports and music along with academic subjects in order
to contribute to the all round development of our citizens. The
current government has placed high priority on the use of ICTs in
education. ICTs will allow us to diversify learning methods and
address community needs as well as individual ability. I would like
to encourage countries in our region which are well advanced in
the integration of ICTs in education to support other countries
which are less developed in this area. |
| Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, |
The
final strategy relating to upgrading educational standards for international
competitiveness includes: building and expanding partnerships, and
promoting research and development. Cooperation with appropriate
partners needs to be strengthened with a view to avoiding duplication
and enhancing synergy. We have all seen how today’s global
problems, such as SARs, bird flu, drug abuse, can easily transfer
from one country to another country and from one region to another.
SEAMEO, through its Regional Centers and in collaboration with appropriate
partners, can play an vital role in undertaking research and development
for the prevention of these problems in the long term. |
In
the globalization era, we all admit that education is interlinked
with other sectors of development. Hence, during the Ninth ASEAN
Summit in Bali, Indonesia, the Leaders of ASEAN Member Countries
announced a Declaration of ASEAN Concorde II. The Declaration identifies
three pillars of cooperation namely, political and security community,
economic community, and socio-cultural community. The last pillar
aims to create our region as a community of caring societies, focusing
on raising the standard of living of disadvantaged groups and the
rural population. In this regard, I would like to point out that
with a vast pool of resources and expertise of fifteen regional
centers of excellence, SEAMEO can be effectively working with ASEAN
to develop the human capacity building of our region in order to
meet the goal of ASEAN socio-cultural community. The advantage of
ASEAN is that the organization works under Leaders. Therefore, I
would like to recommend that SEAMEO and ASEAN work together so that
our Ministers of Education are able to play an important role and
are more visible in an economic and political organization like
ASEAN. |
| Mr President, Ladies and Gentlemen, |
On
a final note, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to
the Government of Brunei Darussalam, in particular the Ministry
of Education, for its wonderful hospitality and excellent organization
of this Conference. Thailand would also like to reaffirm its commitment
to SEAMEO and its units, particularly those in Thailand. I look
forward to working closely with other Minister colleagues as well
as colleagues from Associate Member Countries, donors, and partners.
|
| Thank you. |
