Asean countries to discuss strategic plan to strengthen education system
The 8th Asean Education Ministers’ Meeting ( 8th ASED) to be attended by Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin beginning today is to consider a more comprehensive strategic plan to strengthen the education system by giving priority to the development of human capital among member countries.
The Malaysian Ambassador to Laos, Datuk Than Tai Hing, said the ministers from the 10 member countries would discuss promoting the use of local official languages and giving emphasis to English education among the younger generation in the Southeast Asian region.
Five related meetings will be held on the sidelines of the 8th ASED, namely the 3rd Asean+ 3 Education Ministers’ Meeting; the 9th Asean Senior Officials’ Meeting on Education; the 5th Asean+3 Senior Officials’ Meeting on Education; the 3rd East Asia Summit Senior Officials’ Meeting on Education; and the 2nd East Asia Summit Education Ministers’ Meeting.
Delegates from Asean, China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, India, New Zealand, Russia and the United States will participate in these meetings.
Than, at a press conference for Malaysian journalists, said the 8th ASED was being held in Laos to ensure that the country, the poorest in the region, would also participate in human capital development and thus reduce the gap within the Asean community by 2015.
This was in line with the desire of Laos to emerge from the list of the least developed countries (LDCs) before 2020, he added.
Muhyiddin is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with Laotian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Sports Dr Phankham Viphavanh and South Korean Deputy Prime Minister Hyun Oh- seok, among others.
He is also scheduled to witness the signing of an agreement under which Giant Rail Company Limited Laos (GRCL) will appoint Malaysia’s DIGIMAP Sdn Bhd as project management consultant for the construction of a 220-km railway line from Savannakhet to Lao Bao. — Bernama