Inside ASEAN Column

Column:                Inside ASEAN

Written by:             The Standing Committee on Education and Sports, The National Legislative Assembly

Translated by:         The Bureau of Foreign Languages, The Secretariat of the Senate

To Elevate the Quality of Education through Policies

By Developing Educational Cooperation in the ASEAN Region

          The Standing Committee on Education and Sports, the National Legislative Assembly, led by Dr. Tuang Untachai, Chairperson of the Committee, visited the Republic of Indonesia between Saturday 4 – Wednesday 8 August 2018 with delegates including Asst. Prof. Chalermchai Boonyaleepun, First Vice-Chairperson, General Ongard Pongsakdi, Second Vice-Chairperson, General Jirasak Chomprasop, Member, General Udomchai Thamsarorat, Member, Mr. Preecha Boavirathlert, Secretary to the Committee, and also Honourary Advisor to the Committee to participate in multiple bilateral meetings related to education. The objectives of the visit are to create educational cooperation between member countries within the ASEAN region, to develop students, educational personnel, research and educational technology and to strengthen ASEAN people. The Standing Committee perceives that Indonesia established important and quality educational institutions and have an agency acting as the hub to coordinate cooperation between ASEAN member countries. The summaries of the meetings are as follow.

1. SMA Negeri 3 Malang (SMA 3), Malang

          The Standing Committee had a meeting to exchange ideas with the executive board, led by Hj Asri Widiapsari, M.Pd, the Principal, on important matters related to guidelines on student’s quality development, especially in English. The school utilizes peer-to-peer teaching under the guideline to select, develop and strengthen the quality of teachers and also utilize method to strengthen educational cooperation between schools. This particular school is considered to be competent in school management as it is reflected in the result of the National Test (NT) where the SMA 3 is placed in the top schools of the country and also how it operates with limited resources with emphasis on commitment and determination from the teachers and the school executives.

2. University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), Malang

          The Standing Committee had a bilateral meeting on higher education management and acheivement from academic cooperation, with the executives of University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM), led by Dr. Fauzan M.Pd, Rector of University of Muhammadiyah Malang. The Standing Committee also had the opportunity to meet Thai students who received scholarships from UMM. The bilateral meeting initially agreed upon a Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to exchange students and agricultural education personnel between higher educational institutions of Thailand and UMM, the Republic of Indonesia.

3. Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), Bandung

          The Standing Committee had a meeting to exchange ideas with Edwan Kardena, Ph.D., Director of Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) on academic cooperation, guidelines on the development of knowledge management on engineering, especially on aerospace engineering, and education technology. This is consistent with the guidelines to elevate education quality which supports the implementation of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) of Thailand. Both parties emphasized on educational or academic cooperation between countries within the ASEAN region as it sustainably develops people, being the heart of the development process.

4. Ministry of Education and Culture, Republic of Indonesia, Jakarta

          The Standing Committee had a meeting to exchange ideas with representatives of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Republic of Indonesia, including Didik Suhardi,
Ph.D., Secretary-General, Hamid Muhammad, Ph.D., Director-General, and Ir. Ananto Kusuma Seta, M.Sc., Ph.d., Expert Staff for Innovation and Competitiveness, on strengthening and developing primary, vocational and secondary education, especially on the process to elevate the level of secondary education of the Republic of Indonesia. To be successful, Indonesia established the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, created guidelines to develop educational personnel and students and welcomed the idea of educational cooperation as it will benefit the development of both countries in the future.

5. ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta

          The Standing Committee had a meeting to exchange ideas with H.E. Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN and Miss Phasporn Sangasubana, Ambassador of Thailand to ASEAN, Jakarta, on important matters such as guidelines on strengthening educational cooperation of ASEAN with emphasis on the necessity of concrete cooperation to reduce economic disparity. Other important matters include the establishment of ASEAN studies curriculum to build ASEAN citizen in the region, ASEAN educational cooperation under the Cha-am Hua Hin Declaration, solutions to stateless persons from ASEAN countries, supproting ASEAN people to be literate in English as English is the official language of ASEAN as prescribed in the ASEAN Charter, among others. Furthermore, the Standing Committee and the Secretariat of ASEAN realize the necessity to strengthen educational cooperation between countries in the ASEAN region, especially in agriculture and agricultural technology and innovation, which the Secretary-General of ASEAN will include the aforesaid agendas into the next ASEAN summit. The Secretariat of ASEAN reaffirms its collective support to Thailand as Thailand will be the Chair of ASEAN in the next year.

6. Ambassador of Thailand to Jakarta (H.E. Mr. Songphol Sukchan)

          The Standing Committee paid a courtesy call and exchange ideas with the ambassador of Thailand (H.E. Mr. Songphol Sukchan) and Miss Tida Sukeelap, Minister Counsellor of Thailand to Jakarta. The Ambassador provided information on how the embassy helped Thai people during the earthquake at Lombok Island, the Republic of Indonesia, and will wholly help coordinate the Education Cooperation Agreement to be signed. On this occasion, the Ambassador held a dinner in honor of the Standing Committee.

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