Wednesday, 03 August 2022 | Merina Cahya Anggraeni
Bangkok, Thailand: The Southeast Asian Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) 2021-2025 Strategic Plan was launched during the Diplomatic Briefing on SEAMEO’s Strategic Plan and Action Agenda on 25 July 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand. This launch also marked the official commencement of SEA-PLM Main Survey 2024. Seventy-one representatives from SEAMEO regional centres, associate and affiliate SEAMEO members, international organisations, members of the diplomatic corps, and other regional partners attended the high-level diplomatic briefing.
The Director of the SEAMEO Secretariat, Dr Ethel Agnes Pascua-Valenzuela, underscored how the SEA-PLM 2019 Main Survey has created a marked effect as the first regional large-scale assessment in Southeast Asia and continuous commitment and active participation in SEA-PLM 2024 is vital to ensure educational equity in the region. Regional Education Advisor Ms Mitsue Uemura of UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) echoed Dr Ethel’s statement and reaffirmed that through the valued and strategic partnership between UNICEF EAPRO and SEAMEO, the former will continue its commitment to supporting educational priorities and the successful implementation of SEA-PLM 2024.
Mr Alejandro Sinon Ibanez, SEA-PLM Project Manager, shared the programme’s enhanced model with its three key pillars that will underpin learning equity and help attain the SDG 4 education agenda. The model of the new assessment cycle will help advance student learning outcomes, measure learning loss, strengthen peer learning and knowledge sharing, and improve technical capacity to use evidence. He also shared a provisional calendar of SEA-PLM 2024 with the first set of technical activities to begin in August during the first Annual Regional Technical Workshop. Field trial testing is projected to commence in 2023, and the main survey data collection in 2024.
Regional partner ASEAN-ROK Project Management Team (AKPMT) expressed the Republic of Korea’s commitment to supporting the SEA-PLM Programme through financial support from the ASEAN-Korea Cooperation Fund (AKCF). Dr Roger Yap Chao Jr, Assistant Director and Head of the Education Youth and Sports Division of the ASEAN Secretariat, acknowledged the financial support of the ASEAN Secretariat and AKCF as pivotal to guaranteeing sustainable learning recovery in the region post-Covid-19 pandemic. Encouraging ASEAN countries to participate, benefit and build capacities through the SEA-PLM Programme is critical to achieving equitable and meaningful education in the region, Mr Myo-Zin Nyunt, Deputy Regional Director, UNICEF EAPRO, noted.
