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ASEAN in dire need of education collaboration: Experts
Vast gaps in learning quality and human development will bring the ASEAN region to the middle-income trap.
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Students with special needs participate in a handicraft class at the Art Training Center in Central Jakarta in this undated photo. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
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mong the dire repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic in Southeast Asia is the deepening of a long-existing problem for the region: the deficiencies and disparity of its education systems.
Some countries, mostly high-earning ones, dealt with the sudden shift to online learning with much swiftness. Meanwhile, its developing neighbors limped their way through the shocking transition – a shortcoming that will cost ASEAN billions of dollars over the next decade through a decline in both skilled and unskilled labor.
A May estimate from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) brought some gloomy forecasts for the region: a gross domestic product (GDP) decline of 1.37 to 3.27 percent for the Philippines, Cambodia and Vietnam in the next ten years due to school closures.
Malaysia absorbed the highest impact with a projected economic decline of 4.24 percent by 2030, while Indonesia was predicted to lose roughly US$45 billion in the same course of time.
The only state spared from this fate was Singapore, whose GDP will only increase, as the learning losses were low enough to be compensated.
In seeing the striking data, experts urged that ASEAN pay closer attention to regional education cooperation over the next several years through mindful internationalization efforts. In doing so, the gaps in education quality would collectively improve, boosting the region’s labor pool as well as competitiveness in the global economy.
“The exchange of perspectives is not happening [within ASEAN]. What happens in Indonesia matters for Malaysia – schools in the Philippines would affect Thailand. There is a need for regional cooperation,” said Niaz Asadullah, the Southeast Asia lead of the Global Labor Organization to The Jakarta Post.
