PH wins executive board seat at UNESCO

MANILA – The Department of Education (DepEd) on Friday welcomed the country’s election to the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

The Philippines garnered 165 votes during the election of members of the Unesco Executive Board to occupy one of the six seats for the Asia-Pacific Region (Electoral Group IV) on November 17.

“We would like to thank the Department of Foreign Affairs, particularly the Philippine National Commission for Unesco, and Ambassador Junever Mahilum-West, Philippine Ambassador to France and Monaco and concurrently Philippine Permanent Delegate to Unesco, for this successful campaign for our country,” the DepEd said in a statement.

The Unesco seat will be “one of the legacies” of Education Secretary Leonor Briones, serving as a boost to the initiatives of her successor, it said.

“With this development and the recent Unicef’s (United Nations Children’s Fund) five-star rating recognition to the country’s readiness to deliver remote learning in response to school closures, DepEd is determined to continue our thrust in collaborating with international and local partners to deliver quality education to all Filipino learners,” the department said.

The Executive Board is one of the three constitutional organs of Unesco, the others being the General Conference and the Secretariat, and it is elected by the General Conference.

The Board examines the program of work for the UN agency and corresponding budget estimates submitted to it by the Director-General. It consists of 58 member states, each with a four-year term of office.