ASEAN plans forum for 'neglected' education
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Bangkok
Education ministers in the region are planning to form a forum to discuss education as a part of concerted efforts to make the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) a more integrated society.
"Education is still one of the neglected fields in cooperation among ASEAN nations, together with defense and women's issues," Minister of National Education Bambang Sudibyo told Indonesian students at the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok on Saturday morning.
"ASEAN has been reluctant to display its geopolitical face with defense issues, thus fostering cooperation in economic fields. But I believe sooner or later there will also be a defense pact of some sort," he added.
Bambang was in Bangkok for Friday's first-ever meeting of ASEAN education ministers -- minus Myanmar -- to start a regional forum. He said the meeting as "more of an informal retreat without a clear agenda yet."
The minister pointed out that in the October 2003 summit in Bali ASEAN leaders had agreed on three pillars of a more integrated, solid ASEAN community: the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), the ASEAN Security Community (ASC), and the ASEAN Socio- Cultural Community (ASCC).
Currently, there is already an annual meeting within the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) which also includes seven associate members of Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Norway as well Japan as a donor country in addition to the 10 ASEAN members.
According to an Indonesian diplomat who joined the meeting, there were concerns that the new forum would overlap with existing cooperation within SEAMEO.
The ministers agreed that the ASEAN meeting would be done back-to-back with the SEAMEO meeting.
The next SEAMEO meeting is scheduled to be held in Singapore next March.
The ministers outlined on Friday initial plans to promote the role of education in building a strong regional community. They discussed various regional education topics in the day-long informal retreat at the Four Seasons Hotel in Bangkok.
"We discussed strategies for strengthening ASEAN identity through education," Thai Minister of Education Chaturon Chaisang, chairman of the meeting told a press conference afterwards, as reported by The Nation newspaper on Saturday.
Chaturon noted that the ministers had agreed that such strategies would involve an ASEAN identity while ensuring that our peoples are prepared for globalization and technological advancement.
Other strategies included identifying ASEAN's international niche, enriching the ASEAN brand for education, and promoting ASEAN studies to enhance multicultural and multireligious understanding among the group's peoples, he added.
Exchanges among teachers, staff and students in the region will also be an integral part of the capacity-building process of the region's human resources. Development in English, mathematics and science will be the key areas for such cooperation, said Chaturon.
ASEAN Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong said the ministers planned to put together information about the social and cultural characteristics of each member country that would be posted on websites for student school projects and that later they would develop textbooks and learning materials to promote better understanding among ASEAN citizens.