Badung, Bali, Indonesia, 17-18 September 2018 – Dr Didik Suhardi, the General Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Republic of Indonesia (MoEC RI), officially opened the Joint Governing Board Meetings of Seven SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia on 17 September 2018 at the Anvaya Beach Resort, Badung, Bali. As one of the Centres, the SEAMEO Regional Centre for Tropical Biology (BIOTROP) also held its 56th Governing Board Meeting in this occasion.

The Southeast Asian Minister of Education Organization (SEAMEO)’s Governing Board Meeting is an annual activity of each Centre where its board members, representing the eleven SEAMEO member countries, discuss and provide guidance to the operation and implementation of the Centre’s mandates and program thrusts. In line with this, SEAMEO BIOTROP has been conducting research, capacity building, information dissemination, and community development activities since its founding in 1968.

In his opening remarks, Dr Didik emphasized the importance of teaching the current generation of students about Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) as part of the 21st century skills that could drive the competitiveness of SEAMEO member countries in the global market.

“It is imperative for the education system of SEAMEO Member Countries to adopt HOTS. Otherwise, the competencies of our human resources will be left behind by those from other countries toward our quest for a more sustainable development of our respective countries in particular, and our region in general,” he added.

SEAMEO BIOTROP has just passed the first year of its 10th Five-Year Development Plan (FYDP) implementation with the theme ‘Forging Ahead with Tropical Biology for Environmental and Societal Transformations in Southeast Asia’. Under this Plan, the Centre focuses on three program thrusts, namely Restoration of Degraded Ecosystem, Sustainable Management of Intensively Used Ecosystems/Landscapes, and Conservation and Sustainable Use of Unique Ecosystems/Landscapes of High Biodiversity. The 10th FYDP also serves as the opening of the next 50-years-journey of the Centre which includes the support to four of the SEAMEO Seven Priority Areas, namely 1) Breaking Barriers to Inclusion, 2) Promoting Technical and Vocational Education and Training, 3) Promoting Harmonization in Higher Education and Research, and 4) Adopting 21st Century Curriculum. The other SEAMEO priorities are 1) Early Childhood Care and Education, 2) Resiliency in the Face of Emergencies, and 3) Revitalizing Teacher Education.

In addition to reporting the one-year Centre’s activities, the 56th Governing Board Meeting of SEAMEO BIOTROP also discussed the Agriculture Vocational School Fruit Tree Orchard Establishment Program which is a collaborative program between MoEC RI and SEAMEO BIOTROP on Non-Seasonal Fruit Production for the Revitalization of Vocational Schools (SMK) in Indonesia, called Sekolah Mandiri Produksi Tanaman Sayur dan Buah Edukasi (SMARTS-BE). Through this tropical fruit development program, SEAMEO BIOTROP supports the government’s efforts in empowering and improving the vocational school capacity.

As a part of the Governing Board Meetings’ agenda, SEAMEO BIOTROP invited representatives of each Centre to participate in the planting activity of Kintamani orange (Citrus nobilis Lour.) seedlings which represented the SMARTS-BE program at SMKN 1 Petang, Bali, on the day before the meetings (16/09). The Centre also officiated its collaboration with SMKN 1 Petang by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) focusing on the improvement of vocational capacity through agricultural entrepreneurship. The General Secretary of the MoEC RI, Director of Training for Vocational Schools (PSMK), Regent of Badung Regency, Head of Bali Provincial Education Office, Head of Bali Provincial Food Crops, Horticulture and Plantations Office, Principal of SMKN 1 Petang, and representatives of SMARTS-BE program also joined the activity. The similar tree planting activity had also been conducted at SMKN 4 Bogor during the SEAMEO BIOTROP’s Golden Anniversary last February. All Governing Board members of each Centre including BIOTROP’s also attended the International Seminar on SEAMEO Education Agenda for Sustainable Southeast Asia at the Stones Hotel, Badung, Bali, on 19 September 2018, hosted by the MoEC RI and SEAMEO. This seminar was a platform for participants to share new learning paradigms and practices, exchange their perspectives in related with SEAMEO Seven Priority Areas issues and concerns surrounding education in Southeast Asia, and build regional consensus on how education can effectively contribute towards the promotion of a sustainable Southeast Asia.

Ten Governing Board members from ten SEAMEO member countries as well as SEAMEO Secretariat Director and Deputy Director for Administration and Communication attended the 56th SEAMEO BIOTROP Governing Board Meeting. Six invited guests from the Bureau of Planning and International Cooperation of MoEC RI, Ministry of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change of Malaysia, Institute Brunei Technical Education, Cagayan State University and the Governor of Bali also joined the meetings’ opening ceremony.