Hanoi (VNS/VNA) - Thirty-two educators and government officials from seven countriesin Southeast Asia are participating in a capacity-building workshop onfostering global citizenship for sustainable communities in Southeast Asia thatopened on in HCM City on October 15.

The four-day workshop is jointly organised by the Southeast Asian Ministers ofEducation Organisation (SEAMEO) Regional Training Centre in Vietnam andthe Asia-Pacific Centre of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU).

Toh Swee-Hin, Professor Emeritus in Educationat the University of Alberta in Canada, said thatglobal citizenship education aims to empower learners to assume activeroles to resolve global challenges and to become proactive contributors to amore peaceful, tolerant, inclusive and secure world.

Global citizenship education toward a culture of peace seeks to developcitizens who have the values, attitudes, knowledge, capacities and skillsto actively and responsibly participate in all dimensions of societaldevelopment at local, national and global levels, he said.

It promotes a critical consciousness and understanding by citizens of the rootcauses of multiple conflicts in local, national and global levels of life,including the interconnection of global relationships and structures with localand national realities.

It also empowers active citizens to engage in personal and social action tobuild a peaceful, compassionate, loving, respectful and sustainable world, hesaid.

Global citizenship education applies a lifelong learning perspective and requiresboth formal and informal approaches, he added.

Jihong Lee, head of APCEIU’s Office of Education and Training, saidthat educators and government officials play crucial roles inbringing changes to our education and society through policies, curriculum,teaching and learning practices as well as pedagogies.

Community support and participation is important to make the effortssustainable and attainable, and the collaboration between educators andgovernment officials at central and local levels is also very crucial.

The workshop aims to spark passion for transformative education, andenhance capacities to carry out innovative initiatives on global citizenshipeducation at the local, provincial, national and regional levels, she said.

APCEIU was established in 2000 under an agreement between UNESCO andthe Government of the Republic of Korea in order to promote education forinternational understanding and global citizenship education with UNESCO memberstates./.