Bangkok, 13 December 2022: On 30 November 2022, the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) marks its 57th anniversary with the theme “Building Forward Stronger in SEAMEO Member Countries”, together with the teachers and learners in Southeast Asia who have adapted with the changes despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Two activities were initiated for this year’s celebration - SEAMEO TIKTOK Challenge with the theme “the Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers” and the 2nd Southeast Asian Youth Action (SEAYA) Contest on a VUCA World.

Welcome message from
Dr Ethel Agnes Pascua Valenzuela
Director of SEAMEO Secretariat

The SEAMEO TIKTOK Challenge ran from September to October and was participated by 170 primary and secondary school teachers in 6 Southeast Asian countries, namely, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, who developed their own educational content for teaching and learning by using TikTok as an educational tool.

The 2nd SEAYA Contest took place concurrently with the SEAMEO TIKTOK Challenge but was open to the Southeast Asian youth aged 15-23 years old to present their ideas and solutions on how they adapt and cope with the rapid changes in this VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) world in the form of Vlog, Storytelling, and Dance & Song.  For the 2nd SEAYA contest, SEAMEO received a total of 256 entries from 3 categories:  96 entries of Vlog, 123 entries of Storytelling, and 37 entries of Dance & Song with the total engagement of 1,045 students from 123 schools in 5 countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Vietnam.

The Online Award Presentation Ceremony was organized on Tuesday 13 December 2022 during 14.00-16.00 hrs (BKK Time/GMT+7) to recognize the creativity and hard work of the winners of both TIKTOK Challenge and the 2nd SEAYA Contest.

“It is not easy to select the winners. The evaluation process, which included internal and external committee evaluation, has undergone many steps” said Dr Ethel Agnes Pascua Valenzuela, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat, during her welcome remarks. “We acknowledge the passion, creativity, and innovation in producing these entries. We truly admire the imaginative and entertaining video clips that can be effective teaching and learning resources to be shared to other educators and students. Thus, we hope to feature these in our social media platforms as well.”

The 1st place winners of the SEAMEO TIKTOK Challenge of both primary and secondary level will receive USD 200 while the 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive USD 150 and USD 100 respectively. Likewise, the 1st place winners of each category of the 2nd SEAYA Contest will receive USD 200 while the 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive USD 100 each. In addition to the monetary prize, an e-certificate of recognition will be provided to all winners of both contests as well.

Winners of SEAMEO TIKTOK Challenge:
https://www.seameo.org/Main_programme/368

Winners of the 2nd SEAYA Contest:
https://www.seameo.org/Main_programme/362

To watch the Award Presentation Ceremony:
https://link.seameo.org/57Anniversary