ASEAN organised a workshop on strengthening education for out-of-school children and youth (OOSCY) in  Bangkok on 5 and 6 May 2017. The workshop brought together approximately 40 senior education officials and representatives from ASEAN Member States (AMS).

Participants shared their existing national efforts to build a bank of good practices and find commonalities that would enable regional alignment. Recognising that the number of OOSCY has not significantly reduced over the years, participants also suggested some regional activities to be implemented, such as identifying champions and goodwill ambassadors to front the cause behind the ASEAN Declaration on strengthening education for OOSCY, and strengthening the data on the profile of OOSCY in each AMS.

In her opening remarks, Karin Hulshof, UNICEF Regional Director for East Asia and the Pacific, stressed the need to ensure quality education for all children in the region. She said, “investing in education of all children will strengthen the ‘cognitive capital’ of the region’s greatest asset, which is the human resources and their ‘billion brains’.”

Rounding off the one-and-a-half day session, Rodora Babaran, Director for the Human Development Directorate at ASEAN Secretariat, highlighted that as ASEAN celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, more work still needed to be done to instill the sense of community and regionality within some sectors in the ASEAN region. She also stressed the need to build bridges and find grounds for commonalities so as  to not leave anyone behind. “We need to ensure that every child within the ASEAN Community has access to quality education, in our continued work towards regional progress and prosperity,” she added.

The workshop was hosted by the Ministry of Education of Thailand in cooperation with the ASEAN Secretariat, UNESCO Asia-Pacific Bureau for Education and UNICEF East Asia Pacific Regional Office.