KUALA LUMPUR: Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek led the country's delegation to the 42nd session of the General Conference of United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) in Paris, France from Nov 7 until yesterday.
The Education Ministry in a statement today announced that in 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 more than 7,000 participants from 87 countries in the world.
"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 in order to empower the local cultural heritage to the global level," according to the statement.
The ministry 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, biosphere 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 about 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 the application of human-oriented values and approaches in character development with the concept of Karamah Insaniah," she said.
Besides attending the general conference, Fadhlina also participated in the Ministerial Dialogue on Peace Education which was attended by the ministers of Unesco member countries and visited several educational institutions that can be used as benchmarks to improve the quality of education in the country.
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