VICE President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte stressed the urgent need to address learning gaps and enhance education equality in the Asean region.

“We need to act now. We cannot afford to waste more time. As education leaders, we cannot allow a single child to miss out on the opportunity and benefits of learning and the wonders of being able to use it positively,” Duterte said during the opening of the Southeast Asian Education Ministers for the 52nd SEAMEO Council Conference on Wednesday.

“As education leaders, we have a huge responsibility. The decisions we make today will determine the quality of life in our countries and the entire ASEAN Region, and the ripple effect in these decisions can reverberate for generations to come,” she added.

The DepEd chief urged ASEAN leaders to work together to address the pressing issues of equitable access to education and the recovery from the pandemic.

Duterte also presented the MATATAG Agenda of her department that highlights the commitment of the agency to improve the quality of basic education in the Philippines.

Meanwhile, outgoing SEAMEO council president Chan Chun Sing from Singapore presented the innovative ways the ASEAN countries coped with the pandemic and how the lessons it brought shaped the landscape of education.

The conference, with the theme Transformation through Learning Exchange: Building Resilient Systems as a Region, will discuss the transformation of education as demanded by the challenges faced by the sector, stemming from the damage brought by the Covid19 pandemic.

It aims to highlight the need for resiliency in many countries and their education systems. SEAMEC is one of the platforms where education champions are given the opportunity to discuss and share their best practices for strengthening their education systems.

Duterte will take over as council president from 2023 to 2025.