Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei Darussalam has achieved universal primary education, and is on the way to achieving gender equality in education, said Dr Roli Degaon-Johnson.
"We are also impressed by the commitment of the Ministry of Education and the government in ensuring quality education is achieved and one of the particular purposes of the meeting is to ensure that the Commonwealth Teacher recruitment protocol adopted in the United Kingdom, in 2004, is understood and implemented among Asian members countries," said Dr Degaon-Johnson, Education Adviser, Education Section, Social Transformation Programmes Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat.
She spoke to the Bulletin yesterday before the afternoon session of the Meeting of Teaching/ Public Service Commissions ofAsian Commonwealth Member Countries.
"Participants from Sri Lanka, Singapore, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Maldives are discussing the best way in utilising the Commonwealth Teacher recruitment protocol so that we can retain quality teachers and ensure that we do not limit the freedom of movement of every teachers.
"Teachers` qualification and professional registration of teachers are important areas for discussion. We need to monitor teachers` qualification.
"We hope all the Commonwealth members countries agree on a way in which we can jointly assess and monitor the credentials of teachers so we will not have cases of people with criminal records being able to take up teaching positions in our countries."
She also spoke about Brunei Darussalam`s progress in the Commonwealth Teacher recruitment protocol. Brunei has reported how it is using the protocol in the last meeting of Commonwealth Education Ministers.
"In today`s sessioin, Brunei has acknowledged that it wants to go further in its future implementation.
"We recognise that Brunei has reported that it`s a sources country, meaning it sends teachers abroad and is also a recruiter of teachers. So in terms of both source and recruiter, Brunei Darussalam has recognised its responsibilities to ensure that the protocols are in place,"
The Meeting of Teaching/ Public Service Commissions of Asian Commonwealth Member Countries aims to expand and deepen the information about the Commonwealth teacher recruitment protocol and ascertain how Asian countries may best use it as good practice in teacher retention, to identify issues and concerns with teacher mobility, retention, supply and demand in Asian member countries of the Commonwealth and share positive strategies for improving quality and status of teachers.
Source: www.brudirect.com (14 November 2007)
