Photo: iStock
Luyi Pintér
02/05/2024 09:00
The evolution of modern-day education is a centuries-long process, but the last decade has seen spectacular advances in the digitalisation of education. Today, high-tech technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), immersive technologies (augmented and virtual reality or AR/VR) and virtual environments such as educational metaverse and digital campuses are already being used in learning and teaching processes. And by using these cutting-edge technologies, EdTech developments are helping both students and educators in a number of areas.
In developing Southeast Asian countries, EdTech initiatives can play a particularly important role, as innovations can help students acquire the skills and competences needed to meet future labour market demands, which are essential for sustainable growth in the region. The region is ideally placed for EdTech development, with 560 million internet users in the last decade and the digital economy expected to grow tenfold by 2025 compared to 2015. In 2023, half of the top 50 EdTech startups in Southeast Asia will be from Singapore, followed by Indonesia with 24 per cent, Vietnam with 14 per cent and Thailand with six per cent. In terms of venture capital investment, more than 480 million USD has been invested in the EdTech sector in Southeast Asia over the past five years. It can be seen, therefore, that the EdTech industry is growing steadily in the region as a result of the rise of digitalisation.
At the same time, the pandemic has proven that traditional social divides are also being reflected in the digital world. According to the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics surveys, although an average of 57 percent of students in the region have access to the internet at home, there are significant differences between countries in the region. While 98 percent of students in Singapore have access to the internet, only 16 percent of students in Cambodia do. This is not the first time that young people in Southeast Asia have been exposed to distance learning during a pandemic, as there have been initiatives during the SARS and H1N1 epidemics and various natural disasters. Despite previous experience, the coronavirus epidemic has only deepened inequalities at the expense of lagging regions. For example, according to UNESCO surveys, nearly 90 percent of rural students in Laos were unable to access distance learning during the pandemic.
Overall, the data are sobering, but there are useful lessons to be drawn for building inclusive and innovative digital education. EdTech innovation is a double-edged sword, bridging educational inequalities but also widening the existing development gap. Globally, the results of the EdTech explosion will only take shape in the coming years and decades. What is safe to say, however, is that EdTech developments will play a key role in revolutionising the education scene in Southeast Asia.
The author is an international expert at the Magyar Nemzeti Bank, the central bank of Hungary