Schools invited to submit entries for Seameo-Japan ESD award

KUCHING: All public and private schools in 11 Southeast Asian countries, including Malaysia, are invited to submit entries for the 2022 Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation (Seameo)-Japan Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Award with the theme ‘Education Transformation through Partnership’.

The schools are invited to submit information about initiatives that are related to this year’s theme.

Seameo and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan, in cooperation with the Unesco Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education, have shown their collective commitment to promote best practices in ESD in schools across Southeast Asia, by organising the award scheme annually since 2012.

This year’s theme focuses on the important role of partnerships, especially with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic having transformed education globally over the past three years.

The objectives of this year’s award scheme are to recognise multi-stakeholder partnerships as important vehicles for mobilising and sharing knowledge, expertise, technologies and financial resources to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in Southeast Asia and Japan; to encourage schools to create collaborative and coordinated systems for family and community engagement; and to ensure quality and equity education for all students through partnership efforts in developing effective teaching and learning approaches.

Entries should be relevant to the theme and the scope of ‘Education Transformation through Partnership’.

They should highlight how the school’s programme can utilise innovative and practical ideas to transform teaching and learning approaches through school-family-community-organisation partnerships to help students succeed in social, emotional and academic skills.

They should also clearly demonstrate the integration of ‘Education Transformation through Partnership’ practices in the entire school’s policy, management plan, participatory planning and implementation, curriculum, teaching and learning practices, partnership efforts, parent and community participation, and so on.

The first prize for the winning school includes USD1,500 and a study tour to Japan for four to six persons.

All winning schools will receive a Plaque of Recognition and Certificate of Appreciation for teachers and students involved in planning and implementing the school’s initiative.

A representative from the winning schools will be sponsored to participate at the award presentation ceremony, which will be held at the Seameo High Officials Meeting this November in Bangkok, Thailand.

Submission deadline is July 31.

To view the complete guidelines for submission of entries, click to https://www.seameo.org/Main_programme/340.