From: Ahmad Zukiman Zain
PARIS, April 4 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is taking a direct, honest approach to boost its education cooperation at the international level, Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said.
Giving an idea of what he intends to do in the months ahead, he said the initiative had started with Asean through the Southeast Asia Ministers of Education Organisation (Seameo) which met in Bali two weeks ago.
One area the member countries are looking at is information communication technology (ICT), with Singapore focusing on ICT at the high-end, Malaysia and Indonesia on the rural areas and Thailand studying the impact on culture, language and identity.
On a wider scale, he said, Malaysia was prepared to work closely with the 192-member, Paris-based United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) as magnified by his visit here.
"With honesty and sincerity through Unesco, we should be sharing not just what we have achieved but what we have not been so successful in, he said during a visit to the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), one of the six institutes under Unesco`s education sector.
Hishammuddin hoped IIEP could be engaged in some of the initiatives in Malaysia such as the conference to evaluate the educational programme to be held in October.
"We`d like to invite IIEP to not only present a paper but to have some link on a permanent basis for possibly at least five years," he told the institute`s director, Mark Bray.
The support would boost efforts to improve the education system in the country under the recently launched five-year National Education Blueprint, which the minister is determined to see through.
"We have to make sure that our education investment fully fits the developed nation status that Malaysia is targeting (by 2020).
"God forbid, I don`t want to see children being sidelined or not being able to get access to quality education in 15 years time," said Hishammuddin, who wrapped up his four-day visit to Paris Wednesday.
Created in 1963, IIEP was designed to respond to new needs in educational policy and planning in a rapidly changing world.
To date, more than 5,000 educational planners and managers of over 160 nationalities had participated in IIEP training courses.
In welcoming Malaysia`s interest to work closely with the institute, Bray said Malaysia was a source of inspiration to IIEP whose mission was particularly relevant for developing countries.
"As an institute of planning, we know that Malaysia is a leader from whom others can learn," he said.
He commended Malaysia on its success in handling issues of ethnic diversity, language and geographic disparities.
