The Republic of the Philippines, through its Department of Education, will host the two annual conferences of Southeast Asian education ministers – the 45th SEAMEO Council Conference (SEAMEC) and 5th ASEAN Meeting of Ministers of Education (ASED) on 26-29 January 2010 at the Shangri-la Hotel, Cebu, the Philippines.

Twenty-three students from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand who are doing a course on Public Relations; and 57 students from Padjadjaran University in Bandung Indonesia who are taking up International Relations visited the SEAMEO Secretariat in pursuit of learning about the programmes of the Organization and the model of cooperation among the SEAMEO Member Countries on 30 November and 2 December 2009, respectively.

Minister of Education of Thailand, and President of the SEAMEO Council, Mr Jurin Laksanawisit, called for greater cooperation in promoting Education for All and lifelong learning during the opening of the 32nd SEAMEO High Officials Meeting on 23 November 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand.

The SEAMEO Secretariat supported and participated in the Worlddidac Asia 2009 and the 3rd Asia Education Leaders Forum which were held back-to-back from 28 to 30 October 2009 at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, Bangkok, Thailand. The two events served as venue for both international and Thai participants in exchanging views, ideas, and lessons learned in education.

The second joint meeting of the SEAMEO Secretariat and the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education was held on 27 October 2009 at the Mon Luang Pin Malakul Centenary Building, Sukhumvit Road, Bangkok.

The second meeting was hosted by UNESCO and included agenda items such as updates on ongoing and upcoming activities of the two Organizations, potential areas for further collaboration, and joint social activities. Mr Gwang-Jo Kim, Director of UNESCO Bangkok and Dato' Dr Ahamad bin Sipon, Director of SEAMEO Secretariat presided over the meeting.

With the aim to strengthen the capacity of the adopted schools under the SEAMEO Community Involvement Programme, the SEAMEO Secretariat in collaboration with Microsoft (Thailand) Limited conducted a workshop for 30 administrators and teachers dubbed as "School Development Workshop: Challenges to Improve Schools' Capacity for 21st Century" on 19-20 October 2009 at the National Institute for Development of Teachers, Faculty Staff and Educational Personnel (NIDTEP), Ministry of Education, Nakorn Pathom Province, Thailand.

SEAMEO Centres held the annual Governing Board Meeting to review Centres' accomplishments and set the direction for the next fiscal year. The Governing Board is the policy-making body of the SEAMEO Centre and is composed of representatives of SEAMEO Member Countries.

For 2009, the second batch of Governing Board Meetings was convened in September and October by SEAMEO RELC, SEAMEO INNOTECH, SEAMEO BIOTROP, SEAMEO SEAMOLEC, and SEAMEO RECSAM, SEAMEO VOCTECH, and SEAMEO SEARCA at various venues.

The Ministry of Education of Thailand had recently organized three competitions among schools and colleges in the country to raise awareness on the importance of good citizenship and peace. The contests included logo concept design, essay writing and website development.

The theme of the various school competitions focused on the co-existence of peace and good citizenship in the society as key to development and progress of the country.

A group of top officials and university professors from the Indonesia University of Education (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia) in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia visited the SEAMEO Secretariat on 16 September 2009 to learn more about SEAMEO and seek possible collaboration with the Organization. The team was led by Prof Dr Sunaryo Kartadinata, President of Indonesia University of Education.