Southeast Asia and its Challenges

Background

Southeast Asia is a region of Asia with distinctive feature of cultural diversity from the ten independent countries:

1. Brunei Darussalam,
2. Cambodia,
3. Indonesia,
4. Lao PDR,
5. Malaysia,
6. Myanmar,
7. Singapore,
8. Thailand,
9. The Philippines, and 
10. Vietnam

Figure 1. Map of Southeast Asia

The ten countries reach from eastern India to China and are generally divided into ‘mainland’ and ‘island’ zones. The ‘mainland’ zone consists of Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, while the ‘island’ zone consists of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Brunei.

Virtually all of Southeast Asia lies between the tropics, and so there are similarities in climate as well as plant and animal life throughout the region. Temperatures are generally warm, although it is cooler in highland areas. Much of Southeast Asia is rainforest and the climate is very wet. The wet weather makes the area prime for rice patty agriculture making rice the main staple food in the Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is rich in wildlife with animals such as orangutans, leopards, elephants, water buffalo and rhinos. There is also significant diversity in culture, language, and religion. 

Challenges in Southeast Asia

As a developing region, Southeast Asia got many challenges, among others;

1.       Environmental challenges: Southeast Asia is covered with dense jungle, beautiful beaches, and has so many incredible wildlife. The local environment should be at the top of priorities for Southeast Asian countries to be preserved as the natural resources is fundamental for the region, because most of the countries are heavily rely on tourism for their economies. Some of the environmental problems are: endangered species conservation, polluted air, destruction of coral reefs, deforestation, water security, and many more.

2.       Economic challenges: According to Christian Vits (2014) in one of his article being published on http://www.focus-asean.com, entitled “Clear and Present Danger”, the lights are coming up on Southeast Asia’s last decade growth party. While global growth is gradually strengthening with brighter growth prospects in the US and Europe, emerging markets such as those in ASEAN face unaccustomed challenges. However, as time goes by, ASEAN leaders should think about their growth strategy rather than simply observe global economic developments.

3.       Educational challenges: in one of his paper entitled “Challenges in Education in Southeast Asia”, Prof. Arief S. Sadiman (2004) mentioned that inequality access to education in the region is one of many educational challenges for Southeast Asia. The problem exists due to some conditions that result to disparities in the delivery of quality learning opportunities. The following factors are the main contributor to the problem: (1) Lack of available school building and classroom with all required facilities, (2) shortage of teachers, especially in remote areas, (3) uneven spread of population, (4) lack of good textbooks and other learning materials, (5) geographical location, (6) student’s and parent’s low appreciation toward education, (7) level of socio-economic condition of the family, (8) lack of budget for building more schools, classrooms, learning facilities.

4.       Food safety challenges: Noraini Mohd Othman (2007) in her research entitled “Food Safety in Southeast Asia: Challenges Facing the Region” stated that food safety is the assurance that food will not cause harm to the consumer when it is prepared and/or eaten according to its intended use. It presents unique challenges in food safety, especially problems related to hygiene and sanitation. National food safety programs in Southeast Asia generally lack the following critical elements, namely: (1) an appreciation of the nature and extent of national food safety problems, (2) an awareness of the consequences of contaminated food on the nation’s health status and economic development, and (3) a sense of urgency for the need to investigate and do research. Food safety can no longer be the luxury of the rich since all people should have the right to an adequate supply of safe and nutritious food.

There are more challenges faced by Southeast Asian region, but in this paper I will look deeper on educational challenges.

Educational Challenges

Southeast Asian countries must together develop education system which is forward-looking, future oriented, and strategic. Not only individual countries, but as community of nations together developing joint strategies and programs in order to overcome educational problems within the region.  

The Strategic Dialogue for Education Ministers (SEDM) held in Vientiane, Lao PDR on 13 September 2014, agreed to focus collaboration and interactions in the next two decades in the following priority areas to address the issues and challenges:

1. Promoting early childhood care and education 

Early childhood care and education will be one of the main concerns of the region towards achieving universal pre-primary education by 2030. This includes giving special attention to disadvantaged groups who can benefit most from such programs, including children from poor families, those living in remote areas and of marginalized ethnic and linguistic communities, and children with disabilities and special learning needs.

2. Addressing barriers to inclusion and access to basic learning opportunities of all learners (out‐of‐school and over‐aged children, people with disabilities, etc.)

Concerning the idea of education for all, the barriers in education should be addressed through the development of innovations in delivery and management in order to reach more people to education and support as many communities as possible. Everyone should be able to have basic learning opportunities, with particular attention to over-aged children in primary schools, those belonging to linguistic and ethnic minority groups, people with special learning needs, and other related causes of exclusion.

3. Preparing schools leaders, teachers, students and local communities towards resiliency in the face of emergencies  

For example during conflicts, extreme weather, and natural disasters.

4. Promoting  technical and vocational education and training  among learners and their parents

TVET could be seen as a more visible investment in the field as well as demonstrating a more visible employability of graduates. To promote TVET in the region, all governments should show more support by enhancing it through the development of a regional policy framework for labor, skill, and learner mobility.

5. Reforming teacher education and make teaching profession a first choice

Teacher’s quality improvement should also get attention from the government, as good teachers will produce better graduates. The quality improvement of teachers could be reached through the comprehensive, strategic, and practice-based reform of the teacher management and development systems, this is also in order to make them more professional.

6. Harmonizing higher education and research

This could be an effort to strengthen the higher education institutions within the region through an institution-to-institution approach rather than Government-to Government agreements. This, as        with TVET, can be enhanced through the development of a regional policy framework for labor, skill and learner mobility.

7. Adopting a truly 21st century curriculum

A dramatic shift is sweeping through our school system. Students that we have today are not the same 21st century learners we came to know over the first decade of the new millennium. These new 21st century learners are highly relational and demand quick access to new knowledge. More than that, they are capable of engaging in learning at a whole new level. With the world literally at their fingertips, today’s students need teachers and administrators to re-envision the role of technology in the classroom. This phenomenon has changed the way of study, work and implementation in the field of learning, which is marked by the emergence of new terms such as e-Book, e-learning, ubiquitous learning, cyber/virtual campus, and mobile learning.

Answering the Challenge

We are now living in the era of globalization where most of the things in life are handled by utilizing technology. The children living in the world today are for sure having different characteristics with those living in the earlier time. They are growing up with a highly sophisticated media and computer environment and will be more internet savvy and expert than the previous generation. In order to produce the future generation with high quality, educators should pay more attention and carefully prepare the education system for this generation.

The term that is currently used by educators and education commentators for this generation is ‘digital natives’ or the ‘Net generation’. These young people are said to have been immersed in technology all their lives since they were born which impacted on their sophisticated technical skills and learning preferences for which traditional education is unprepared. It is calling for urgent necessity for educational reform as a response.

Meanwhile, the teachers or educators of this generation are coming from the previous generation which also known with the term of ‘digital immigrant’ or “Generation X and Y’. There will come a time and a possibility where the students are more skillful in term of technology compare to the teachers. At this point we should prepare the teachers to act as facilitators for the students to come to the learning resources, rather than acting as the smartest person in the class like it used to be.

Early childhood, the first five years of life, is a time of rapid cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional and motor development, and the most important period of development in a child’s life.  The development of a child’s brain depends on environmental stimulation, especially on the quality of care and interaction that the child receives. According to an article in the official website of UNICEF Thailand (http://www.unicef.org/thailand/) A baby who is hugged, cooed to, comforted and visually stimulated has an essential advantage.  Children who are nurtured and well cared for are more likely to fully develop cognitive, language, emotional and social skills; to grow up healthier; and to have higher self-esteem. Each of these areas is crucial to our well-being as adults, as our experiences in early childhood shape who we ultimately become.  While home is the most important environment during early childhood, it is crucial that children are exposed to some form of quality early childhood services, such as those provided at early childhood development centres.

According to a survey on the situation of children and women in Thailand conducted by the National Statistical Office in 2012 with support from UNICEF, about 84 per cent of children aged 3-5 attended some form of organized early childhood education program. However, the rate is lower in municipal areas. In respect to their development, 94 per cent of children aged 3-5 who attend early childhood learning program are developmentally on track, while only 77 per cent of the same age group who are not attending early childhood learning program are on track.

Developed countries like USA or most of European countries are already giving proper attention to the early childhood education from birth to age eight. It covers from curriculum, child care programs, family-school relationships, equity issues, multicultural units, health nutrition, facilities, special needs, infant/toddler programs, to child development. This could be the standard for Southeast Asian countries to set the educational system for the early childhood education within the region. Hopefully by 2020 we, ASEAN member countries, could produce a better prepared generation to enter their next phase in education.

As stated in the official website of The United Nations (http://www.un.org/), education is a right, like the right to have proper food or a roof over your head. It is so important for all people to have access to education as it beats poverty, promotes gender equality, reduces child mortality, contributes to improved maternal health, helps combat preventable diseases, encourages environmental sustainability, and helps global development. The ultimate aim of Education for All (EFA) is sustainable development.

The term EFA stresses that everyone should benefit from basic education, from young children, to adolescents, people with disabilities, those belonging to linguistic and ethnic minority groups, people with special learning needs, and other related causes of exclusion. Be it through formal secondary, technical and vocational education or non-formal adult education and learning, including skills training. Learning does not always happen in formal situations as it is in schools. It begins well before primary school and continues throughout life. Families and communities must be encouraged not only to create environments that encourage education but get involved at all stages so as to ensure its relevance and quality.

Education for all are literally means education for all individuals, including the victims of natural disasters, extreme weather, and in conflict area. Southeast Asia region got hammered by many natural disasters, like volcano eruptions, tsunamis, typhoons, earthquakes, and many more. Millions of people have been affected by all these disasters, including kids who are still studying. Their schools and houses are also got stroke by the disasters, making them lose their opportunity to continue their study. These kids should be taken into serious attention by all parties, especially by the Government and society. Besides providing food, water and shelter for the victims, volunteers should also provide teaching and learning activities for these kids, ensuring their study still continues.

In relation to ASEAN Economic Community 2015, where all ASEAN nations will relatively have mobility in term of labors, products, services, and investments through the agreement, all ASEAN nations will have to pay more attention in preparing the education development especially in improving the quality and relevance of graduates to meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive world of work. 

Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) would be the best areas to be explored for cooperation within the countries as it provides skills acquisition. Skill is considered to be very vital to the growth of developing country’s economy, especially in this era of technological integration. It would be needed by many life sectors, not only in a modern environment, but also in agricultural and other informal sectors. It is through technical vocational education and training a more relevant graduate could be produced to meet the evolving needs of industry or employer.

Paryono (2013) in his research entitled “Mapping National and Regional TVET Initiatives in Southeast Asia and beyond in Response to Students and Labour Mobility” was exposing the fact that Southeast Asian countries are positioning Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the mainstream of education system and setting it as a priority in their education agenda. This is simply due to the fact that TVET plays an important role in the socio-economic development of a nation, not to mention that it helps a lot in preparing the current and future labour forces.  At regional and global levels, the issue of students and labour mobility are also very prevalent particularly in anticipation of full ASEAN integration in 2015.

His research was basically about the national and regional initiatives in TVET to be used as a reference and stimulate ideas and collaboration for improving TVET policies and practices. He used qualitative research as the methodology and found out these following initiatives;

1.       National initiatives

The most vital initiative is the creation of the National Qualification Framework (NQF) to be used as a means for promoting the development, implementation and facilitation of a transparent mechanism used in the assessment, certification, and recognition of skills. It requires intensive preparation and strong commitments. Even in countries that have successfully developed the framework, it does not always translate into successful implementation. Communication is required between the various Ministries, education and training providers, and industries for successful implementation.

2.       Regional initiatives

a.       East Asia Summit on TVET Quality Assurance Framework

All countries have their own way of assuring TVET Quality. The development of a Regional TVET Quality Assurance Framework will facilitate in promoting continuous improvement of TVET within the country and enhance cooperation and mutual understanding between member countries. To support this initiative, it is vital to establish a smaller TVET quality assurance, such as focusing o teacher quality standard.

b.      Regional Qualification Framework (RQF)

There have been several attempts by various organizations to develop ASEAN Regional Qualification Framework in Southeast Asia. Many hold that an RQF will provide a reference point and translation grid for all qualifications throughout Southeast Asia and that it will be benefit employers, education providers, and job seekers to recognize qualification issued within the region. Others feel that the RQF will only function if all member countries recognize the benefits of it and support the initiation and the implementation whole-heartedly.

In order to produce high quality graduates, it is imperative that excellent teachers be recruited, prepared, and supported in every school. According to an article posted on Centre for Education Policy Analysis of Stanford University (http://cepa.stanford.edu), research evidence is persuasive that students benefit from high quality instruction, and that for students who have had good teachers several years in a row, the effect is cumulative. There are not enough numbers of teachers who are effective, especially in the schools that serve large numbers of poor and minority children. High qualified teachers are not always those who have earned a degree or completed a training program. Instead, as a region we need policies and programs that bring academically talented and diverse recruits into teaching and help them to succeed. And, we need policies and programs to retain and reward effective early career teachers.

As recommendations, Governments of each ASEAN nation should continue to experiment with various kinds of teacher recruitment programs, and keep collecting data of teachers who are still need improvement or those who are promising, and end those that are not. The respective Governments should also fund experiments the full range of possibilities designed to increase teacher retention, including salary incentives for successful teachers, improvements in working conditions and school culture, and mentoring and professional development.

A paper entitled “ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) A Potential Game Changer for ASEAN Countries” written by Hansakul (2013) highlighted that the AEC’s envisaged launch at the end of 2015 will not only be an integration milestone but a potential game changer for ASEAN. The region’s diversity, ranging from advanced economies like Singapore to developing countries like Myanmar, could be a source of synergy, bringing the capital and more mature economies together with the competitive costs and abundant labor and resources of the less-developed member countries.

Harmonizing higher education among the 10 ASEAN nations would be a great idea to develop a more harmonious curriculum within the region. Therefore ASEAN will have same standards of higher education graduates to be hired in the shared industry. A regional policy framework for labor, skill and learner mobility should also be developed by the Governments. 

The era has changed, we are now entering the world with the new paradigm that happens in teaching and learning in the 21^st century. A new innovation and initiatives should be taken by educators to engage students in a more interesting and fun way of learning. Because, like it or not, this phenomenon has changed the way of study, work and implementation in the field of learning. Considering these situations above, there is a need to foster not only for students but also for teachers to use new way of teaching and learning. This can be done by taking the benefit of a Social Learning Network (SLN), and starting to use the digital book (e-book) as one of the learning resources as well as presenting the idea through video lecturing.

SLN is a social media platform that has interesting features for teachers and students similar to social media like Facebook, but actually there is greater value in this platform. SLN was designed by educators, that is quite safe to be used by teachers as well as by students. SLN is very comprehensive similar with some features and function that could be access faster and easier. It can be just an online platform to promote the new way of teaching or can become more creative ways to engage students in collaborative learning and distributed cognition.

Digital book or also known as e book was firstly being introduced in 1990. It allows publishers and software developers to use a format that can be read on any device and use a variety of digital book reader software.Epub (electronic publication) is a digital book format which is standardized, introduced by the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) in October 2011. These books are so practical usually for students not to carry heavy books to schools and it is also effective that they can access the materials at anytime and anywhere using their gadgets. The use of e book is definitely unavoidable due to the changes of era. Teachers must be able to develop their own materials using this format of technology to assist students in learning process.

Another technology that can be used to improve the quality of teaching and learning process is a video lesson or video lecture, a video which presents educational material for a topic to be learnt. Such videos might then be uploaded onto the Internet to be used as online lectures. This way student at home could replay the explanation from their teacher during the face to face learning process in class. Teachers can utilize video camera equipment that are already owned by them, for example handycam, or laptop camera, they will not need high end video camera to make simple video presentation. As long as the nature of the video is descriptive, communicated in a logical order, and have clear explanation, the video would be presentable.

The launch of AEC was initially set for 2020 and subsequently moved forward to January 1, 2015. In November 2012 ASEAN leaders agreed to move the launch date again to December 31, 2015 in order to give member states more time to prepare for necessary regulatory changes. Some of the findings stated on the article are the AEC Blueprint’s vision and goals, where the Economic Community would be focus on 4 characteristics;

1.       A single market and production base, where flows of investment, capital, and skilled labor will be facilitated and cooperation in sectors designated as priority integration sectors will be promoted.

2.       A competitive economic region which requires a regional standard in trade policy and for the business operating environment.

3.       Equitable economic development. ASEAN member states will strive to level the playing field as much as possible.

4.       Integration into the global economy. ASEAN strives to integrate itself better as a region into the global supply chain.

I hope this paper could at least give an educated guess of what can be expected to happen within the Southeast Asia region, particularly in the field of education. From that point the countries would have a clearer perspective on mapping the role, the benefits and the challenges of AEC to the member countries. The graduates in Southeast Asia are expected to be better human resources who will affected the supply and demand of labor when Southeast Asia enters the AEC at the end of 2015.

References

ASEAN Economic Community Blue Print. (2008, January). Retrieved from http://www.asean.org/archive/5187-10.pdf

Early Childhood Development. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/thailand/education_14938.html

Hansakul, Syetarn. (2013, June 14). ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) A Potential Game Changer for ASEAN Countries. Deutsche Bank DB Research. Retrieved from https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/DBR_INTERNET_EN-PROD/PROD0000000000315342/ASEAN+Economic+Community+%28AEC%29%3A+A+potential+game+changer+for+ASEAN+countries.pdf

Hershberger, Matt (April 16, 2014). 6 Environmental Challenges Facing Southeast Asia (And What You Can Do To Help). Retrieved from  http://matadornetwork.com/change/6-environmental-challenges-facing-southeast/

Joint Statement of the Ministers of Education of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) on Education Agenda for Southeast Asia (2015-2035)

Loeb, Susanna (2008). Teacher Quality: Improving Teacher Quality and Distribution. Publication of National Academy of Education Policy White Paper Series. Retrieved from http://cepa.stanford.edu/content/teacher-quality-improving-teacher-quality-and-distribution

Mohd Othman, Noraini (December 4, 2007). Food Safety in Southeast Asia: Challenges Facing the Region. Retrieved from http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/166014/2/AJAD_2007_4_2_6Othman.pdf 

Paryono. (2013). Mapping National and Regional TVET Initiatives in Southeast Asia and Beyond in Response to Students and Labour Mobility. TVET Asia Online Journal Issue 1: Collaboration in TVET. Retrieved from http://www.tvet-online.asia/issue/1/paryono_tvet1

Sadiman, Arief S. (2004). Challenges in Southeast Asia. Paper presented at the International Seminar on “Towards Cross Border Cooperation between South and Southeast Asia: The Importance of India’s North East Playing Bridge and Buffer Role”, Kaziranga, India, 16-19 November 2004. Retrieved from http://www.seameo.org/vl/library/dlwelcome/publications/paper/india04.htm

Vits, Christian (August13, 2014). Clear and Present Danger. Retrieved from http://focus-asean.com/facing-economic-growth-south-east-asia-challenge-focus-asean/