SEAMEO CARES and SEAMEO Border Schools Quality Inclusive Education Project (BSQIEP) under SEAMEO Priority Area Number 2 "Addressing Barriers to Inclusion"

To increase access of marginalised learners to inclusive schools and inclusive education in Southeast Asia, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education launched the SEAMEO CARES and SEAMEO Border Schools Project. Dr Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat, met with H E Ms Treenuch Thienthong, Minister of Education of Thailand, to seek the possibility of MOE supporting SEAMEO initiatives in some border schools of the country.  

The Thailand- Cambodia border is one of the first school visited after school reopened in November with Dr Ethel Agnes Pascua-Valenzuela, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat, Dr Suphat Champatong, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education of Thailand, and supported by the Regional Education Office 9 together with the Provincial Education Office, Sakaeo, Thailand.  MOE and SEAMEO officials visited three border schools in Sakaeo Province, located in Thailand-Cambodia border.  The visits aim to identify the strengths and the areas for collaboration with the following schools: 1) Bankhaotangok School, Khlong Hat District; 2) Bankhlongkaithuan School, Khlong Hat District; and 3) Banklongwa School, Aranyaprathet District.

Bankhaotangok and Bankhlongkaithuan Schools are public schools that have students approximately 199 students and 233 students from K1 to G9 with 15 teachers and 16 teachers, respectively. Whereas the Banklongwa School has 151 students from K1-G6 with 11 teachers.

The school principals and the teachers actively cooperated and are thankful to the Ministry of Education of Thailand and the SEAMEO Secretariat for the consultation meeting o the situation of Thailand-Cambodia border schools. As the main takeaway from the visit, Dr Ethel Agnes P. Valenzuela, shared that SEAMEO Secretariat and six SEAMEO Centres in Thailand can assist the border schools in providing capacity building and training for school heads and teachers, developing the schools’ capacity for 21st century skills development and enhancing learning resources for quality and equitable education for all.