The Department of Education (DepEd) on Sunday, June 6, cheered at the accreditation of the Association of Southeast Asian Teacher Education Network (AsTEN) as an official entity affiliated with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
DepEd Undersecretary for Planning and Human Resource and Organizational Development and Senior Officials Meeting on Education (SOM-ED) Chair Jesus L.R. Mateo said with the AsTEN’s accreditation, the delivery of “quality” teacher education program will be strengthened.
“AsTEN will have significant contributions towards strengthening the ASEAN education sector through the provision of quality teacher education programs for the region. With the many possibilities in the future of workforce, teacher development and welfare are important aspects to look into,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
It was Mateo who officially endorsed AsTEN’s application as an ASEAN-associated entity in September last year. The Commission on Higher Education and SOM-ED rallied behind the DepEd’s endorsement.
AsTEN is a network of premier leading teacher education institutions (TEI) of countries in the Southeast Asian region. The Philippine Normal University (PNU) serves as AsTEN’s founding chair and permanent secretariat.
“AsTEN’s inclusion to the roster of entities associated with ASEAN is a milestone for the Network and the Philippine Normal University. This accreditation is given to organizations representing different sectors that initiate programs and projects to benefit ASEAN peoples,” PNU President Dr. Bert Tuga said.
He said AsTEN represents the teacher education sector in ASEAN under the category of “Think Tanks”.
He said the TEI network can now promote ASEAN’s agenda and work with the regional bloc on its ASEAN Community Vision 2025 that aims to work on the blueprint of the ASEAN community on political-security, economic, and socio-cultural community aspects.
Included in the list of AsTEN’s member institutions are Kolej Universiti Perguruan Ugama Seri Begawan (Brunei Darussalam), National Institute of Education (Cambodia), Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (Indonesia), National University of Laos (Laos PDR), Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (Malaysia), Yangon University of Education (Myanmar), National Institute of Education-Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Kasetsart University (Thailand), and University of Social Sciences and Humanities (Vietnam).
In a letter dated March 29, ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi informed AsTEN of its successful application to the list of ASEAN-associated entities.