SEAMEO QITEP in Science (SEAQIS) participated in the 3rd Gumi Education Forum 2025, organised by Kyungwoon University in collaboration with the SEAMEO Secretariat, held from 16 to 18 December 2025 at Hotel Geumosan, Gumi-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, Republic of Korea. This international forum carried out the theme “Empowering Educational Leaders for Human-Centred Digital Transformation” and brought together educational leaders, policymakers, academics, and industry representatives from Korea and Southeast Asia.
The forum aimed to strengthen educational leadership capacity in guiding digital transformation that remains firmly human-centred. Through shared learning, policy dialogue, and cross-sector collaboration, the forum explored leadership strategies and innovative policies, practical frameworks such as digital literacy, empathetic, inclusive, and ethical uses of technology, as well as leadership for organisational change. The forum also served as a strategic platform for building partnership networks between Korea and Southeast Asian countries.
SEAQIS made an active contribution through the Breakout Session: Country Case Studies, particularly Breakout Session 1 themed “Leadership and AI in Education”. In this session, Mr Reza Setiawan, Director of SEAQIS, served as a speaker, sharing Indonesia’s practices and reflections on leadership and artificial intelligence (AI) in education.
In his presentation entitled “AI is No Longer an Abstract Future; It is a Grassroots Reality in Indonesian Schools”, Mr Setiawan emphasised that AI is no longer a future concept, but a present reality in Indonesian schools. While Indonesia’s National AI Strategy (2020–2045) provides a policy direction, teachers on the ground have already begun adapting commercially available AI tools in the absence of comprehensive formal systems. This situation highlights the significant potential of AI, while also revealing critical systemic gaps that still need to be addressed.
Furthermore, Mr Setiawan stressed that the core challenge in implementing AI in education is not technology itself, but a deep perceptual gap between teachers and students. Bridging this gap requires more than technological solutions; it calls for a clear framework of leadership, human capacity development, and policy. He highlighted three key pillars: (1) the establishment of clear policies and ethical governance, (2) targeted capacity-building for educators, and (3) the cultivation of adaptive leadership.
As a concrete illustration, Mr Setiawan presented a case study of SMK YPKK 2 Sleman as an early adopter of AI. The case demonstrated how technology can rapidly improve
efficiency yet also showed that without balanced investment in human capital development, the full potential of AI cannot be fully realised. He concluded by emphasising that the ultimate goal is not merely AI integration, but the cultivation of a new generation of future-ready educators.
The active participation of SEAQIS, reinforces Indonesia’s contribution to the regional discourse on educational leadership and human-centred digital transformation, while opening further opportunities for collaboration between Korea and Southeast Asia.
