Thailand and Brunei share insights on education
Cooperation among Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organisation (SEAMEO) member countries is at an all-time high, including a new partnership between Thailand and Brunei in the area of education improvement.
Thai Education Minister Dr Teerakiat Jareonsettasin is attending the 49th SEAMEO Council Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia on Monday and Tuesday.
In an address to regional education ministers, he highlighted the good relations and cooperation between the member countries with the aim of improving education in the region as a whole.
Teerakiat also met with Brunei Education Minister Pehin Dato Suyoi Haji Osman after the council conference on Monday evening.
He revealed that Thailand and Brunei have developed a programme of bilateral cooperation, with both sides interested in learning from each other to improve education in their countries.
He said this was a vivid example of the strong partnership among SEAMEO member countries.
“The Prime Minister, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, admires Brunei’s education policy so much, and the Brunei government is also keen to work with Thailand. Therefore, Thai delegates to the SAEMEO meeting had a special bilateral meeting with their Brunei counterparts to discuss future cooperation,” he said.
“We can learn a lot from Brunei, as this small country has one of the best education systems in the region.”
He explained that strong point of education in Brunei was that the system allows several pathways for students to develop after they graduate from primary school. These are based on their study outcomes, personal interests and skills.
For instance, an academically talented student can choose to study further at university, while students with other skills can pursue vocational education.
“Another interesting thing that we can learn from Brunei is that they have only a few key performance indicators to measure educational success – such as the employment rate of graduates and the satisfaction of employers,” Teerakiat said.
“They are also interested to learn about the sufficiency economy philosophy of education, as we are the leader in this field.
“This cooperation will see mutual experience sharing, which will benefit both countries in improving our education systems.”