Indonesia’s Minister of Education and Culture, Dr Anies Baswedan, led the main celebration of SEAMEO’s golden anniversary in Indonesia involving three activities organized by the six SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia on 7-8 October 2015 in Jakarta. These activities were an education exhibition, SEAMEO Night, and an international seminar on education.

The six SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia include the Regional Centre on Tropical Biology (BIOTROP), Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition (RECFON), Regional Open Learning Centre (SEAMOLEC), and Regional Centres on Quality Improvement of Teachers and Education Personnel in Language (SEAQIS), Mathematics (SEAQIM) and Science (SEAQIS).

Aimed at enhancing the visibility of SEAMEO to various stakeholders in Indonesia, the exhibition on education was officially opened on 7 October 2015 by Didik Suhardi, PhD, Secretary General of the Ministry of Education and Culture. It featured the products and services of the six SEAMEO Centres and 18 more schools and companies engaged in education. It was held at the main lobby of Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture building and opened to the public until 8 October 2015.

The SEAMEO Night, also held on 7 October 2015, brought together officials, staff, and Governing Board Members of the 6 SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia, officials of the SEAMEO Secretariat, ambassadors and representatives of SEAMEO member countries and affiliate member countries, high officials of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Indonesia, and representatives from relevant partners. It was meant to enkindle the pride and honor of being one big SEAMEO Family.

During the SEAMEO Night, Dr Anies officially launched the two new programs of the six SEAMEO Centres, namely: SEAMEO STAR Village and SMART City, as well as the coffee table book titled “Building a Legacy in Education, Science and Culture in Southeast Asia: Accomplishments of Six SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia.”

The SEAMEO STAR Village is a three-year pilot program among the six SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia that generally aims to develop a community-based sustainable development model that could reinforce the SEAMEO Community Involvement Program especially in helping address the SEAMEO 7 Priorities and the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Agenda. It envisions a village that is Sustainable, Technopreneur, Abiltiy-rich and Responsible in terms of economic, social, and environmental development. The pilot site is the Cihideung Ilir village in Bogor, West Java.

The SMART City is a joint project among SEAMOLEC, SEAQIS, SEAQIM and the SEAMEO Secretariat that aims to improve and strengthen collaboration, effectiveness, and efficiency in science and mathematics teaching and learning process by using appropriate information and communication technology. The project is being piloted in Bandung City, West Java.

The coffee table book contains the contributions of the six SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia in support of SEAMEO’s purpose of promoting cooperation and development in education, science and culture in the region.

With the theme “Strengthening the Character and Competencies of Teachers in Southeast Asia Toward Global Citizenship”, the seminar was attended by close to 150 secondary school teachers and administrators, and education specialists from the SEAMEO member countries. Resource persons were Governing Board members of SEAMEO QITEP Centres and SEAMOLEC and exemplary teachers from Indonesia.