Rokiah Mahmud
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation Regional Centre for Vocational and Technical Education and Training (SEAMEO Voctech) to deliver all regional training programmes and most of its in-country training programmes online with the partnership with partners such as GIZ RECOTVET, ITEES and Temasek Foundation Singapore.
The situation has provided the centre with valuable experiences in online training delivery and learning management systems, allowing the centre to expand and strengthen the systems as well as equipping facilitators with suitable ICT skills and pedagogy for online delivery. This has led to the development of SEA-VET learning platform with the support of GIZ RECOTVET and industry players such as Labtech International and FESTO Didactic.
SEAMEO Voctech Centre Director Alias bin Haji Abu Bakar said this during the launch of the SEA-VET learning platform and SEAMEO Voctech Smart Lab and the signing of memorandums of agreement (MoAs) on Saturday.
The SEA-VET learning platform and SEAMEO Voctech Smart Lab reflect the growth of the regional TVET knowledge platform SEA-VET.net – a joint project between SEAMEO Voctech and GIZ RECOTVET that started in 2018 to bridge the fragmented TVET information and knowledge across Southeast Asia.
The centre director thanked Brunei’s Ministry of Education (MoE), German Government, and partners GIZ RECOTVET and private partners such as Labtech International and FESTO Didactic, Brunei’s Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) and Deputy Permanent Secretary (Higher Education) at the MoE and SEAMEO Secretariat for their contribution to the success and uptake of SEA-VET.net.
“The launch of SEA-VET learning platform signifies an important development in SEA-VET.net, our regional knowledge platform for TVET. This is a celebration of a remarkable journey of partnership and collaboration between SEAMEO Voctech and GIZ RECOTVET that is also supported by the MoE and private sectors.
“It offers various interactive courses, both synchronous and asynchronous, that can lead to certification and micro-credentials; while SEAMEO Voctech Smart Lab promises a new setup for TVET teachers, trainers and trainees to learn, develop and share teaching-learning resources using the new and interactive technology.
Meanwhile, GIZ RECOTVET Programme Director Ingo Imhoff commended the success of SEA-VET.net and SEAMEO Voctech in embracing digital teaching and learning solutions as core element of its services to TVET in Southeast Asia noting it as an important step in making such services more resilient and in reaching wider groups of recipients.
“The planned cooperation with the ASEAN TVET Council or the ‘Skills for Business’ website for the private sector page in cooperation with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council underline the great potential of SEA-VET.net and SEA-VET learning plastform.
“This is making ‘the TVET platform for Southeast Asia’ a resource cherished by a range of TVET stakeholders and an asset of increasing value to SEAMEO Voctech and SEAMEO as a whole,” he added.
