The SEAMEO Secretariat in collaboration with SEAMEO SEAMOLEC and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as an ICT specialized agency under the United Nations virtually organised the Regional Policy Dialogue on School Connectivity and Digital Transformation in Post Pandemic Context on 14 June 2022 at 13:00-16:00 hrs. (GMT+7/ Bangkok time).

The Dialogue was delivered by delegates from the Ministries of Education from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and Thailand including key global stakeholders in three main areas: (1) Regional Overview on Schools Connectivity and Digital Transformation; (2) School Connectivity Support Initiatives; and (3) Regional Implication on the Schools Connectivity and Digital Transformation in Southeast Asia, aiming to explore policy options to accelerate school connectivity in the context of pandemic response and recovery based on results and findings from ITU/FCDO school connectivity project in Indonesia as well as global initiatives of GIGA.

The event registered 858 participants from various countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Most of the participants are teachers and lecturers who joined the dialogue via SEAMOLEC Live YouTube Channel. SEAMOLEC also invited around 15 guests from SEAMEO centers, academicians and industry practitioners who joined in the Zoom platform.

As a result of the Dialogue, the meeting concluded that:

• Development of lifelong learning and personalized learning infrastructure is necessary for the future of learning.
• Artificial intelligence is helpful for the lifelong learning process.
• Beside the connectivity or the infrastructure issues, the whole inclusive sustainable and accessible digital ecosystem toward ASEAN community are important for further development.
• It is necessary to promote collaboration and strengthen the partnership in four areas: capacity building and teacher training; research development; mobility programme; and online resources sharing.

The Regional Policy Dialogue on School Connectivity and Digital Transformation in Post Pandemic Context can be viewed at the following link of the SEAMEO SEAMOLEC YouTube channel.
https://bit.ly/schoolsconnectrec

The summary report can be accessed at the following link:
https://bit.ly/schoolsconnectsummary