SEAMEO COUNCIL PRESIDENT'S OFFICIAL VISIT TO SEAMEO CELLL AND LAUNCHING CEREMONY OF THE REGIONAL LIFELONG LEARNING ONLINE PORTAL

​​On 06 March 2017, HE Dr Teerakiat Jareonsettasin, Minister of Education, Thailand visited SEAMEO Regional Centre for Lifelong Learning (SEAMEO CELLL) in his capacity as SEAMEO Council President. Accompanying the Minister were high officials from the Ministry of Education, Thailand, Dr Gatot Hari Priowirjanto, SEAMEO Secretariat Director, and SEAMEO Secretariat officials.
                                                            
During the presidential visit to SEAMEO CELLL, the Centre Director briefed the incumbent SEAMEO Council President on the Centre’s activities during the past few years as well as its strategic directions for development in the upcoming period. HE Dr Teerakiat Jareonsettasin subsequently delivered his remarks and offered the Centre valuable counsel on its operation. The President accented that the element that counts for SEAMEO CELLL’s sustainable development should be self-reliance. He encouraged the Centre to have entrepreneurial spirit and inspired the Centre to prosper in the field of lifelong learning and in turn contribute to the development of the whole world, not small groups of the society alone.  
 
This occasion also marked the momentous event when the Minister of Education, Thailand and concurrently SEAMEO Council President participated in the Launching Ceremony of the regional Lifelong Learning Online Portal held at SEAMEO CELLL. The President officially pressed the button to launch the portal at the address www.SEA-LLLportal.org.  
 
The online portal www.SEA-LLLportal.org is one of the main components of the project: “Towards a Lifelong Learning Agenda in Southest Asian Countries” which is implemented by SEAMEO CELLL and UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) with the purpose of supporting SEAMEO countries in developing and implementing holistic and comprehensive lifelong learning approaches that link different sectors and forms of learning. The project was funded 100,000 Euros by UIL for two-year implementation in 2016-2017 with strong participation of 11 Ministries of Education in Southeast Asian countries and concurrently SEAMEO Member Countries.
 
To promote education for all while ensuring both equity and quality, SEAMEO countries should define their vision of lifelong learning and learn from one another with regard to policies and good practices.  In this connection, it is regarded essential to establish a channel of information wherein articles, studies, reports and statistics concerning the field of lifelong learning are collected and disseminated among SEAMEO countries.  This online portal will serve as a hub for exchanging information, policies and good practices in lifelong learning in the region. It also functions as a forum which policy-makers, researchers, scholars, experts and teachers can join for discussion of theories and practices in the context of lifelong learning in Southeast Asia.