DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS 
P R E S S  R E L E A S E
 

SFA-AGR-172-08
ASEAN EDUCATION MINISTERS PUSH FOR MORE COOPERATION PROJECTS

19 March 2008—The ASEAN Education Ministers of the ten Member States of ASEAN gathered in Kuala Lumpur on 15 March 2008 for the 3rd ASEAN Education Ministers (ASED) Meeting, which was held right after the 43rd Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Council Conference on 13-14 March.

 

The 3rd ASED Meeting discussed the important role of education in ASEAN Community building, following the decision of the ASEAN Leaders at the 12th ASEAN Summit in January 2007 in Cebu to build an ASEAN Community by 2015.  This Community will have three mutually reinforcing pillars, namely, the ASEAN Security Community (ASC), ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). ASEAN’s sectoral body on education is under the ASCC.

 

The ASEAN Education Ministers also exchanged views on the challenges posed by the recently signed ASEAN Charter on the education sector.  Article 1, Paragraph 10 of the ASEAN Charter states that one of ASEAN’s purposes is “to develop human resources through closer cooperation in education and life-long learning, and in science and technology, for the empowerment of the peoples of ASEAN and for the strengthening of the ASEAN Community.”

 

The 3rd ASED Meeting discussed about the status of the drafting of the ASCC Blueprint, which will identify the strategic thrusts and key action plans that various ASCC sectoral bodies will need to undertake until 2015 to help realize the ASEAN Community.  The ASCC Blueprint will complement the AEC Blueprint, which was adopted at the 13th ASEAN Summit in Singapore, and the APSC Blueprint, which is also currently being negotiated.  Both the ASCC and APSC Blueprints are expected to be adopted at the 14th ASEAN Summit in Bangkok, Thailand in December 2008.

 

The ASEAN Education Ministers agreed to undertake important projects, such as the following:

 

  • ASEAN Student Exchange Program. ASEAN students will gather in a host country to interact with each other, and learn more about ASEAN as well as the local culture and people of the host country.  Malaysia will host this annual program in 2008, followed by Thailand and Singapore.  The Philippines is scheduled to host the program in 2011.

  • Development of Source Materials on ASEAN.  ASEAN will come up with common source materials on ASEAN, to be published in English and the national languages of the Member States, and taught in primary and secondary schools.  The source materials will help raise ASEAN awareness of students in each Member State. 

  • ASEAN Scholarship Program.  This program will be undertaken after the ASEAN Secretariat has conducted a comprehensive study on the existing scholarship programs in Member States to determine the type of scholarship program that ASEAN needs most.

  • Study on Harnessing Educational Cooperation in the EAS Region. The Australian Council for Education Research will conduct a study to identify the specific forms of education cooperation projects that the EAS countries can undertake. (EAS stands for East Asia Summit and is composed of the ten ASEN Member States – Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam - and six ASEAN Dialogue Partners, namely, Australia, New Zealand, China, Republic of Korea, Japan and India.)  Education cooperation is one of the five priority areas of EAS, as agreed upon during the 2nd EAS held in Cebu in January 2007. 

The Education Ministers decided to undertake a review of the Charter of the ASEAN University Network (AUN) with the objective of making AUN more responsive to the current and future needs of ASEAN.  The AUN was formed in 1995, and currently has 21 member universities across ASEAN, which includes the University of the Philippines, Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University. 

 

Secretary of Education Jesli Lapus headed the Philippine Delegation to the 3rd ASED and 43rd SEAMEO Council Conference. Other members of the delegation included Undersecretary Ramon Bacani, Assistant Secretary Jonathan Malaya and Atty. Geronimo Sy of the Department of Education, and Director Zaldy Patron of the Office of ASEAN Affairs, Department of Foreign Affairs. END

 

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