COVID-19 pandemic affected education sectors worldwide and the Southeast Asia region is not affected. According to data gathered from UNESCO in 2020, in SEA region alone, due to the lockdown and home quarantine policy, the pandemic affects more than 149 million learners, of this number is 73.6 million female students. SEAMEO or the Southeast Asian Ministers of Eduation Organisation (SEAMEO), is a regional intergovernmental organization established in 1965 among governments of Southeast Asian countries to promote regional cooperation in education, science, and culture, conducted a series of webinars in view of the COVID-19 impacts on the education sector throughout different themes: psychosocial and emotional support during the COVID-19 pandemic, learning continues: making distance education, open education resources and online resources matter during COVID-19 education disruption and lately, resilience and connectivity during COVID-19 pandemic: snapshots of good practices.
The series of webinars brought forward discussions by education decision makers, practitioners, specialists, NGO/UN/academic partners and strategies from within and outside the region with these following objectives: 1) COVID-19 responses of education policymakers, SEAMEO Centres and international development organisations and education institutions in Southeast Asia; 2) Explore scalability of national response and existing solutions at the regional level that may help contribute to the post-COVID-19 plans of actions and agenda; 3) discuss the situation of learning and learners in a situation where there is total lockdown and how SEAMEO Centres are providing immediate and long-term programmes and 4) discuss recommendations on Post-COVID-19 rehabilitation initiatives. There have been four webinars conducted over the course of a month and all links can be retrieved from below:
Webinar 1: Emotional and Psychosocial Health during COVID-19 Pandemic / 29 April 2020 / 10AM (Bangkok Time)
Webinar 2: Learning Continues: Making Distance Learning, Open Education Resources and Online Resources Matter during COVID -19 Education Disruptions / 30 April 2020 / 10AM (Bangkok Time)
Webinar 3: Learning and Mobility in Lockdown: Snapshots from the SEA Teacher and SEA TVET Network / 07 May 2020 / 10AM (Bangkok Time)
Webinar 4: Resilient Southeast Asia: COVID-19 Responses and Best Practices / 14 May 2020 / 10AM (Bangkok Time)
Further information on the webinars, please visit this link.