Challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic caused unprecedented disruption in education globally and in the Asia-Pacific region in particular, severely impacting education delivery, learning outcomes, student engagement and health and well-being, and resulting in a significant setback in progress towards achieving SDG 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Learners in the region experienced learning loss and dropout rates drastically increased, impacting particularly the most vulnerable and marginalized groups.

While the situation is diverse between and within countries in the Asia-Pacific region, the COVID-19 pandemic not only exacerbated pre-existing inequalities in access to education and a pre-existing learning crisis but also exposed significant weaknesses in the current education systems and their resilience to shocks. The pandemic revealed the urgent need to take immediate action in ensuring that all learners return to school and recover lost learning, and to strengthen and prepare education systems for future crises. The pre-existing weaknesses of the current education systems also revealed the need to reimagine education that is resilient, equitable, inclusive and responsive to shifting learning and training requirements.

Toward a Solution

Against the backdrop of COVID-19’s impact on education, the Second Asia-Pacific Education Ministers’ Conference (APREMC-II) was held in Bangkok from 5 to 7 June 2022 – a critical moment, as most countries in the region had recently reopened their schools, set up learning recovery measures, and reflected on broader transformations of their education systems, including through national and regional processes leading up to the Transforming Education Summit in September 2022. The APREMC-II Conference sought to address SDG 4.2 Equal access to quality pre-primary education, 4.3 Equal access to affordable technical, vocational and higher education, and SDG 17 Partnerships.

APREMC II was co-organized by the UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education and the UNICEF Regional Offices for East Asia and the Pacific and for South Asia, co-hosted by the Ministry of Education of Thailand and organized with the support of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan. The conference was convened under the umbrella of the Asia-Pacific Learning and Education 2030+ (LE2030+) Networking Group, which is the UN’s AsiaPacific regional education coordination mechanism.

The APREMC-II Conference successfully provided a platform for Member States and education stakeholders to share lessons learnt and good practices in COVID-19 education responses, to identify common challenges and possible solutions in terms of learning recovery and transforming education, and to foster partnerships for future collaboration in the region. It was innovative in involving meaningful youth engagement as an important dimension of the conference. Inputs from the youth conference organized in late May 2022 informed the Youth Statement presented to the Ministers during the youth presentation, ”My Education, My Future”, delivered at APREMC-II.

The APREMC-II Conference was a successful South-South and triangular cooperation mechanism that resulted in the Bangkok Statement 2022, which was adopted by Ministers/Vice-Ministers of Education as well as 300+ key education stakeholders from the Asia-Pacific region. The Bangkok Statement 2022 sent powerful messages pertaining to the joint recognition of the need to take urgent collective action, and expressed the commitment of Member States and education stakeholders. It also recognized the need for strengthening regional collaboration and cooperation between countries and partners.

As a result of the APREMC-II Conference, the adoption of the Bangkok Statement 2022 was an important first step and the region is now in the process of following up on the recommendations that emerged. The APREMC-II conference paved the way forward and created a regional momentum for action and cooperation towards learning recovery and the transformation of education systems, leading to the Transforming Education Summit (TES), convened by the United Nations Secretary General in September 2022.

In light of the commitments adopted, several regional initiatives will be implemented as a follow-up to the Conference. For example, “Strengthening National Capacity for Diagnostic Assessment and Remediation and Catch-up Measures” is an initiative that builds on the key findings and concrete policy pointers from the conference. It will provide assessments of individual students’ learning levels, and will produce guidelines and toolkits for teacher training. Another regional initiative that resulted from the APREMC-II Conference was “Strengthening national capacity for education system transformation”, which will have a special focus on building the capacities of countries in education policy and sector, with a view to implementing the priority areas listed in the Bangkok Statement. 

The Learning and Education 2030+ (LE2030+) Networking Group continues to lead the coordination of the implementation and monitoring of SDG 4 in the region. As a follow-up to APREMC II, the group is committed to strengthening regional South-South and triangular cooperation (SSTC) while forging stronger collaboration to pursue priority areas identified by and in the region.