KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 — Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek led the country’s delegation to the 42nd session of the General Conference of the United Nations’ Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in Paris, France, from November 7 until yesterday.
The Education Ministry (MOE) said during the conference, Fadhlina, who is also the President of the Malaysian National Commission for Unesco, delivered the country’s statement during the debate and shared the vision and achievements of Malaysia in ensuring the success of Unesco’s agenda.
Among the highlights was Malaysia’s active role in supporting Unesco’s agenda, including through expertise and financial contributions via the Malaysia-Unesco Cooperation Programme, which benefited over 7,000 participants from 87 countries worldwide.
“Malaysia also highlighted the joint efforts led by Brunei, Indonesia, Thailand, and Singapore in elevating the kebaya as a cultural heritage recognised by Unesco.
“This is one of the efforts to celebrate the equality and solidarity of the Asean region to empower the local cultural heritage to the global level,” it said in a statement.
In the same statement, the MOE said Malaysia also contributed to the development of knowledge through the Unesco Chair related to Future Learning held by Malaysia as well as the latest recognition of the Unesco Triple Crown Site to Sabah in preserving and promoting world heritage sites, biospheres, and geoparks in the state.
“Member countries are also advised to foster universal trust and harmony besides creating close and strategic cooperation in dealing with global challenges through transversal solutions.
“All member countries need to focus on achieving the SDG 2030 agenda as well as carrying out continuous efforts after 2030,” it said.
At the conference, Fadhlina also shared Malaysia’s determination to provide quality education opportunities for all students regardless of race, religion, or social status.
“This is done through educational development elements based on human-centric education, which focuses on applying human-oriented values and approaches in character development with the concept of Karamah Insaniah,” she said.
Besides attending the general conference, the minister also participated in the Ministerial Dialogue on Peace Education, which was attended by the ministers of Unesco member countries and visited several educational institutions which can be used as benchmarks to improve the education quality in Malaysia.
The participation in this general conference proves Malaysia’s continued commitment as a Unesco member country, thus opening up opportunities for the country to make interventions to ensure Malaysia’s performance and achievements in Unesco’s field of competence are in line with the current global agenda.
— Bernama
