VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Jakarta (voinews): Indonesia's Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry encouraged the development of programs and policies related to culture and arts education, such as through the Regional Consultation on Culture and Arts Education for Asia Pacific.

The program was held online on February 13-14, 2023, Ministry's Culture Director General Hilmar Farid noted in a statement on Wednesday.

"The meeting results came in the form of recommendations that will be discussed at the World Conference on Culture and Arts Education held by UNESCO in December 2023 in the United Arab Emirates," he stated.

This meeting is part of the process to discuss the Framework for Culture and Arts Education initiated by UNESCO inclusively.

Later on, the framework became a foundation for the development of programs and policies related to culture and arts education.

The discussion points within the forum include evaluation of the qualitative and quantitative impact of culture and arts education in the region as well as the identification of problems, challenges, and opportunities within the regional context.

The meeting also discussed priorities in the development of programs and policies related to culture and arts education in the future.

Farid stated that this regional consultation showed that each region in the Asia Pacific has diverse issues in culture and arts education.

To this end, he underlined the need for more intensive bilateral cooperation, both within the region and globally.

Moreover, experts highlighted the importance of collaboration among all stakeholders, including the government, academicians, cultural actors, community organizations, and industry, so that they can remain relevant in the face of global changes.

This collaboration also allows these stakeholders to expand their benefit coverage.

Some 93 experts were involved in the online meeting that represent 26 Asia-Pacific countries and four category II institutions or centers.

These experts also represented two non-governmental organizations: Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO (ACCU) and National Crafts Council of Bangladesh.

Several of these 93 experts also represented three international organizations: ASEAN, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and Southeast Asian Regional Centre for Archaeology and Fine Arts (SEAMEO-SPAFA).

Meanwhile, the 26 Asia-Pacific countries comprise Bangladesh, Cook Islands, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, the Federated States of Micronesia and Mongolia.

They also include Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Niue, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, PR China, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Vanuatu, and Vietnam. (Antaranews)