​Ha Noi - On 25 December, 2017, the Department of Continuing Education, Ministry of Education and Training, Vietnam organised the seminar "Improving the Performance of Community Learning Centres (CLCs)". The aim of this seminar is to provide policy markers, educators, and CLC managers with a chance to discuss the operation of 11,057 CLCs nationwide as well as learn from other CLC models in neighbouring countries, thus finding solutions to further enhance and develop CLCs in Vietnam.

Taking part in the seminar were 80 participants, including the Directorate and Staff members of the Department of Continuing Education, representatives of the central Vietnam Association for Learning Promotion (VALP), the Centre for Non-formal Education (The Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences - VNIES), SEAMEO CELLL, and representatives of provincial Departments of Education and Training, provincial Sections of Continuing Education, provincial VALP, local CLCs.

The seminar was chaired by Mr Nguyen Cong Hinh - Director General of the Department of Continuing Education. After a speech by Prof Dr Pham Tat Dong - Vice President concurrently the Secretary of VALP in which he emphasised the important role of CLCs in the national education system , SEAMEO CELLL was invited to deliver a presentation about the models of CLCs in the countries of Japan, Korea, Indonesia and Thailand to provide the participants with an overview of CLCs in the region. Based on those models, SEAMEO CELLL also made suggestions on ensuring the sustainable development of CLCs in Vietnam. A subsequent highlight of the event was a discussion where good practices, wholehearted comments and suggestions were shared by the participating managers and educators from the provinces and all opinions were greatly appreciated and carefully taken note of by the organisers.

The one-day seminar concluded with a closing remark by the chairman, in which he sincerely thanked all the participants for their attention and opinions in the event and also for their great effort in bringing education through CLCs to the people.

In May 2015, the World Education Forum held in Incheon adopted the Framework for Action Education 2030 with an overarching goal of “ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning for all by 2030”. Rural education, which remains the weak point, is the indispensable part for the goal realization. In September 2015, the United Nations set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and rural education as a major component and a key area for policy actions has a close linkage with Goal 4 of SDGs.

Within that scope, UNESCO International Research and Training Centre for Rural Education (INRULED), Yunnan Normal University and Yunnan Agricultural University hosted an International Seminar on Education for Rural Transformation in Kunming on 18-22 December, 2017. The seminar brought together 35 education policy-makers, researchers and practitioners from the five Mekong countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam) and Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan. In the event, the participants made presentations on various aspects of learning & education for the aim of rural development, shared their views in discussion sessions, and paid a visit to two exemplary sites as good examples of rural transformation in China.

Contributing to the seminar, the representative of SEAMEO CELLL shared the good practices and impact of community learning centres (CLCs) in Vietnam, thus highlighting the important role of these centres in sustainable rural transformation. More importantly, a network of partners has been established, which will pave the way for companionship and future collaboration between centres and countries to further benefit education in remote areas in the region.

From 18 to 20 December 2017, Indonesia organised its first national policy forum on open online learning for adult learning and education.
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This sizable meeting gathered nearly 150 participants from the education sector and education policy making from in and outside the country.
 
The meeting listened to 15 insightful presentations on open online learning and experience sharing in conducting online courses.  The birth of Web 2.0 and subsequently Web 3.0 has brought online learning to a higher level where direct two-way communication course providers and learner-learner interaction are possible on the webpage. Cloud-based contents and online assessment have made it possible for courses to be available anytime, anywhere.
 
SEAMEO CELLL representatives addressed the meeting in the opening session and delivered a presentation in the plenary session on the role of open online learning as a key promoter of lifelong learning in this digital age.  The presentation emphasised that online learning is the trend of education as it opened up multiple opportunities for learners to access resources, including video lectures, and to form learning groups where newly-learnt knowledge is shared and discussed.
 
Besides, as part of its role in the regional project Towards a Lifelong Learning Agenda in Southeast Asian Countries, which the centre initiated, and in fulfilling its commitment towards UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in the project, SEAMEO CELLL carried out monitoring task during the meeting.
 
The three-day policy forum concluded with a concrete set of recommendations to be submitted to Indonesia Ministry of Education and Culture for policy making in the following year. They will also be sent to UNESCO Jakarta for support. The meeting also agreed that once the recommendations are reflected in the national education policies, provincial and district policy makers will adapt them to local contexts in ways that comply with the national guidelines while best facilitating the specific learning and education context in each area.
 
The policy forum also witnessed the inspiring inauguration ceremony of 3,000 non-formal education teachers who successfully completed online courses offered by the Centre for Development of Early Childhood Education and Community Education, West Java Province (Jayagiri Centre).
 
Indonesia policy forum was one in a chain of fora of the kind in Southeast Asian countries conducted within the framework of the said regional project. Previously, two others had been conducted in Lao PDR (August 2017) and Cambodia (November 2017). UIL and SEAMEO CELLL are expecting four others to take place in Vietnam, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and the Philippines early next year.