Fixing the Foundation: Teachers and Basic Education in East Asia and Pacific

Manuela V. Ferro was appointed World Bank Regional Vice President for East Asia and Pacific (EAP) in September 2021. Prior to this appointment, she was World Bank Vice President of Operations Policy and Country Services (OPCS), where she oversaw the World Bank’s corporate policies on financing and analytical services.

A Portuguese national, Ms. Ferro has over 25 years of hands-on and leadership experience in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia. Throughout her professional career, she has shaped creative development solutions for countries as diverse as post-conflict, low-income all the way to upper middle-income countries. She brings to her current position a track record of modernization of operations policies, a history of forging productive partnerships with client countries and development partners, and a focus on client services.

H.E. Nadiem Makarim currently serves as the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology in the Republic of Indonesia.

Prior to his appointment as the Minister of Education and Culture, Minister Nadiem worked in the private sector, beginning his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company in Jakarta, Indonesia. He later co-founded Zalora, an online fashion shop, and subsequently left Zalora to become the Chief Innovation Officer at Kartuku, a payment service provider. In 2010, Minister Nadiem founded Gojek, which is today a decacorn company with a valuation of over US$10 billion. In 2019, he was appointed Minister of Education and Culture by President Joko Widodo to his second-term cabinet, and he subsequently resigned from his position at Gojek. During Minister Nadiem’s tenure, a decree was signed into effect on 3 February 2021 prohibiting Indonesian schools from enforcing rules that mandate the wearing of religious attire.

Minister Nadiem earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in International Relations from Brown University.  In November 2019, Time magazine included Minister Nadiem on its "100 Next" list in the Leaders category.

H.E. Enkh-Amgalan Luvsantseren is currently the Minister of Education and Science in Mongolia.

Minister L. Enkh-Amgalan has been elected as a Member of Parliament of Mongolia multiple times: in 2012, 2016, and 2020. He previously served as Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Mongolia and as Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Parliament of Mongolia on State Structure and on Social Policy, Education, Culture and Science, respectively. In January 2021, he was appointed as Minister of Education and Science and appointed as Acting Minister of Digital Development and Communications in January 2022.

Prior to serving in the government, he worked in the private sector for 16 years and was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Unitel Group, MCS Electronics, and First Vice President of MCS Group.

Minister L. Enkh-Amgalan holds an MBA degree from HangDon Global University (Republic of Korea) and an MBA degree from the University of Dakota (USA). He speaks both English and Russian and was educated in Russia, the United States, and the Republic of Korea.

H.E. Dr. Gina O. Gonong is the Undersecretary for Curriculum and Teaching for the Department of Education (DepEd) in the Philippines.  She oversees 5 Bureaus: Curriculum Development, Learning Delivery, Learning Resources, Education Assessment, and Alternative Education. Also under her supervision is the Literacy Coordinating Council Secretariat.

Undersecretary Gonong has spent her entire career in education. She has 28 years of experience in the field of education, first as a basic education classroom teacher and later as a professor, administrative official, and researcher at the Philippine Normal University (PNU). Prior to joining DepEd, she was the Director of the PNU Research Center for Teacher Quality (RCTQ). She worked with DepEd on various teacher quality reforms, including the development of the Philippine Professional Standards for Teachers (PPST); the transformation of the National Educators Academy of the Philippines; career progression for teachers and school heads; and performance management system. She contributed to the development of the Republic Act No. 11713, Excellence in Teacher Education Act, and Executive Order No. 174, Establishing the Expanded Career Progression System for Public School Teachers.

Undersecretary Gonong holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the Philippine Normal University.  She was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Letters honoris causa by the University of New England in Australia and earned a post-doctoral fellowship for her leadership in research from the same university. She was also granted an Australian Awards Fellowship. She was also the recipient of the 2022 Bonifacio P. Sibayan (BPS) Distinguished Professorial Chair in Applied Linguistics awarded by the Linguistic Society of the Philippines.

Aaditya Mattoo is Chief Economist of the East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank.  He specializes in development, trade and international cooperation, and provides policy advice to governments.  He is also Co-Director of the World Development Report 2020 on Global Value Chains.  Prior to this he was the Research Manager, Trade and Integration, at the World Bank. Before he joined the Bank, Mr. Mattoo was Economic Counsellor at the World Trade Organization and taught economics at the University of Sussex and Churchill College, Cambridge University. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cambridge, and an M.Phil in Economics from the University of Oxford. He has published on development, trade, trade in services, and international trade agreements in academic and other journals and his work has been cited in the Economist, Financial Times, New York Times, and Time Magazine.

Andrew Mason is Deputy Chief Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist for the East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank. Prior to joining the Chief Economist’s Office, Mr. Mason served as Manager of the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice for the Bank’s Europe and Central Asia Region.

During his career, Mr. Mason has worked on a range of development issues, including poverty reduction, gender equality, labor, skills, and social protection. He is co-author of several World Bank flagship studies, including The Innovation Imperative for Developing East Asia; A Resurgent East Asia: Navigating a Changing World; Toward Gender Equality in East Asia and the Pacific; Informality:  Exit and Exclusion, a Latin America and Caribbean regional study; and, Engendering Development – Through Gender Equality in Rights, Resources, and Voice, a World Bank Policy Research Report. Mr. Mason has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University.

He holds a Ph.D. in applied economics from Stanford University and a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard University.

Lars M. Sondergaard is a lead economist in the Education Global Practice’s East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank. He has led both operational and analytical work to support improving education outcomes in East Asia and Pacific and European and Central Asia. He has carried out policy research on a range of issues, including education, poverty, growth, and fiscal policy. He is the co-author of several World Bank publications, including Bridging the Basic Learning Gap (forthcoming); Skills, Not Just Diplomas; and Getting Back on Track. Reviving Growth and Securing Prosperity for All. Before joining the World Bank, he was a senior economist at the European Central Bank. He holds a doctorate and a master’s degree in economics from Georgetown University.