LIGHT MOMENT: Singapore Finance Minsiter Tharman Shanmugaratnam (left), South Korean Education and Human Resource Development Minister Kim Shin-il (right) and Indonesian Higher Learning Director General Faisal Djalil chat after speaking at a seminar in Jakarta on Friday. The one-day seminar titled "Enlightening the Life of the Nation" was organized by The Jakarta Post. (JP/Ricky Yudhistira)Success in national education begins with governments prioritizing human resources development and mutually supporting stakeholders, education experts said here Friday.

South Korea's former education minister and deputy prime minister, Kim Shin-il, said national education should be seen as something part and parcel of the broader national economic development agenda.

He said South Korea's education success was a result of a working collaboration between the government and other stakeholders in the education sector, including individual households.

"Education has been a top priority in the national agenda," Kim told participants of a seminar themed "Enlightening the Life of the Nation" held by The Jakarta Post in Jakarta.

"Education is a top priority also in every household in Korea. Every mother and father devotes and sacrifices for their children's education."

Now one of the leading economic players and competitors in the global economy, South Korea had a rough start after gaining independence from Japan.

"When Korea was liberated from Japan, only 28 percent (of the population) was literate. It was poorer than most countries in Asia at that time (1950-1960s)," Kim said. "After 15 years, all Koreans were literate."

South Korea's rapid success, Kim said, was driven by the country's government-led economic growth and development, a success he attributed to the state's policies on human resources advancement and its agility in adapting to market demands.

Striving to maintain relevance in an ever-competitive and globalizing market has also proven to be among the key factors driving the education successes of Singapore, said another seminar participant.

"It is important for Singapore to develop exceptional features that will allow it to stay relevant in the world," said former Singapore education minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.

Tharman, currently Singapore's finance minister, highlighted how the city-state's goal of becoming a knowledge-based economy had spurred improvements in its education system, as well as innovations in the workplace.

"Investing in a knowledge-based society in Singapore through education, through research and development and innovation in the workplace, has been a process of constant evolutions, constant learning from others, constant mistakes and corrections, and constant improvements," he said.

Shanmugaratnam added that improving the country's education system was not a single ministerial effort, but rather a national endeavor, which involved the public and private sectors and all learning institutions.

It's got to be a complete (mutually supporting) ecosystem," he said, adding that the cultivation of a culture of innovation, openness, learning and improving in society was also crucial in the process.

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