SEAMEO INNOTECH conducts online Governing Board Meeting
With the travel restrictions still in place, the 65th Governing Board Meeting of SEAMEO INNOTECH was once again conducted online. The Center’s Governing Board (GB), comprising of senior representatives from the Ministries of Education of SEAMEO-member countries, the Director of SEAMEO Secretariat, and the Director of INNOTECH convened virtually to discuss the accomplishments and future activities of INNOTECH. The meeting was also attended by the Center’s Management Committee and selected staff, as well as advisers and observers accompanying the GB Members.
GB Meetings are essential to the operations of each SEAMEO Center as it enables the Center to engage the Ministries of Education in Southeast Asia, through its GB Members, on its programs and projects. The GB Members also provide guidance on the future directions of the Center.
During this year’s GB Meeting, the GB Member for Singapore, Mr. Suraj Nair, Director of the Technologies for Learning Branch of the Educational Technology Division of the Ministry of Education of Singapore, was elected as the Chair. While the GB Member for the Philippines, Atty. Nepomuceno A. Malaluan, Undersecretary and Chief of Staff of the Philippine Department of Education, was elected as Vice Chair. They will serve for a term of three years.
The Center’s accomplishments were presented during the meeting through a video presentation. The different learning programs, research studies, knowledge events, and other special projects were highlighted. SEAMEO INNOTECH Center Director, Dr. Ramon C. Bacani, shared that the previous Fiscal Year was the Center’s last year of operation under the 9th Five-Year Development Plan. Although the year was implemented in the shadow of the pandemic, the Center was able to successfully transition its programs to fully online. One of which is the Regional School Leadership Program, which has traditionally been a face-to-face, residential program, where the participants from the SEAMEO member-countries stay in the Center’s campus. The online offering of the program was enriched with the participation of a country facilitator, allowing the participants to have deeper discussions in their own language. The Center’s Mobile Technology for Teachers (MT4T) was also widely used due to the increasing demand in technology-based teaching and learning.
Another highlight of this year’s GB Meeting is the knowledge sharing session where each of the GB members were able to share their country’s plans on the future of education. The rich discussions shared during the meeting will be compiled in a special INNOTECH publication, to be released in the coming months.
