Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called for the formulation of dynamic regional education policies that could continuously spearhead holistic developments in ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) here on Thursday.
Education remained the foremost key that would ensure the region continue to stay competitive and relevant in facing growing challenges in the globalized world, he said.
Due to the socio-economic challenges in the local and global stages, ASEAN should redouble its effort to ensure that their education system was able to prepare its people adequately to meet the challenges, he said.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"Looking ahead, there is no greater challenge for our region than the pursuit of socio-economic development. In this respect, education plays a bigger role than most others.
"Hence it is pivotal for Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) member countries to close ranks and formulate appropriate regional education policies and strategies that will strengthen the socio-economic development of the region," Malaysian national news agency Bernama quoted Badawi as saying.
He made the remarks in a keynote address read out by Malaysian Education Ministry Secretary-General Zulkarnain Awang at the 43rd SEAMEO Council Conference.
Education also played an imperative role in bridging divides in member countries at both the national and regional levels, and its system must also be continuously strengthened and tested for its relevance to ensure sustainable growth, Badawi said.
"In the context of developing a more equitable world, it is useful to remind ourselves that many gaps and divides remain -- the socio-economic gap, the education gap, the rural-urban divide, the digital divide and so on," he said.
In Malaysia, he said, education was one of the most heavily invested sectors with 23 percent of the annual budget being allocated for various projects and initiatives such as enhancing teaching facilities in the rural areas, providing allowances for disabled students and introducing a textbook scheme.
Meanwhile, Badawi also urged SEAMEO to constantly evaluate its performance and better its achievements through sharing experiences and expertise.
"We need to reflect, re-examine, and refine our goals, especially in view of current global developments. The varied approaches that we have individually taken have offered us an opportunity to learn from each other's experiences and to adopt successful formulas," he said.
Source:Xinhua
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