Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte will visit Brunei Darussalam and Singapore as part of her duties as the president of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO), she divulged on Thursday, May 25. Vice President Sara Duterte speaks during the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Partners Convergence held at the National Museum on Thursday, May 25. (OVP photo) The Philippines, represented by Duterte, was formally elected as the SEAMEO Council President in February. She would hold that position from 2023 to 2025. “Hopefully, we will be able to learn from the two countries' best practices in the area of education and the other SEAMEO member countries,” she said during the Department of Education’s (DepEd) Partners Convergence held at the National Museum of Natural History. As head of the regional intergovernmental organization that aims to promote cooperation in education, science, and culture, Duterte hopes to work towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in basic education. She recognized that the goals could be achieved through “strong partnerships that involve all actors, including the private sector, civil society, and local communities.” “It is true that the pandemic has heavily disrupted the education system, but the disruption has also given us a chance to pay more attention, evolve, and innovate our education system,” she said. “As the Vice President and Secretary of Education, I strongly encourage the private sector to join hands with the government and our development partners to ensure that we can achieve our objectives in education,” the official added. Duterte called on stakeholders to “give Filipino children a chance to compete on an equal playing field with the rest of the world. “They are the future of our nation, and investing in their education today will bring great benefits to our country in years to come,” she furthered.