ASEAN, UK discuss challenges on education post COVID-19

Education ministers of ASEAN member countries met UK government officials and education specialists to discuss education challenges following COVID-19 on March 16.

A kindergarten in Vietnam

The Recover learning and rebuild education in the ASEAN region roundtable was co-hosted by the ASEAN Secretariat, the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, British Expertise International (BEI), Department for International Trade in the United Kingdom (DIT), and the Cambridge Partnership for Education.

The ministers and representatives from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam focused their discussion on learning loss and accelerated learning, access to education, and building resilience in education systems.

According to Jane Mann, Managing Director, Cambridge Partnership for Education, “COVID-19 was not the first time that Southeast Asia had to handle education disruption, and in many cases governments and communities have responded to this pandemic with speed and strength.”

 “The roundtable will explore how we can create cross-regional partnerships to build quality, effective and resilient education systems that work for all children,” she said.

ASEAN Secretary-General Dato Lim Jock Hoi highlighted that in going forward, the blending of digital technologies with traditional offline approaches to learning would be critical.

“It is key for the ASEAN education sector to strike a balance between the appropriate use of digital learning, while retaining the best features of traditional education,”  Lim said./.

VNA