Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday formally opened the 52nd Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) Council Conference here at the Edsa Shangri-La.

Together with the 11 country members of SEAMEO and representatives from nine Associate Member Countries and seven Affiliate Members, they discussed the state of the education systems in each of the 11 countries in Southeast Asia and what policies are in place to strengthen them.

Here is part of the Vice President's welcome message where she also shared the MATATAG project in response to the challenges of every Filipino student:

"We recently launched our MATATAG agenda. "Matatag" is the Filipino word for resilience. This is our commitment to the country, our learners, and our fellow Filipinos as we work towards improving the basic education sector.”

"The MATATAG agenda acts as a roadmap of the department as we develop and prepare initiatives to support the Southeast Asian education sector and the Seven Priority Areas of SEAMEO from 2023 to 2025."