English
The coronavirus pandemic has had an especially hard impact on the development of Central Asian countries, where young people make up almost 50% of the population.
The disease has already had a significant negative effect on education, as well as on social and the economic stability of the region.
Today, the situation is considered to be in a critical moment and plays havoc with the prospects of the younger generation. Literacy and numeracy rates are falling among children and adolescents.
Even before the coronavirus, Central Asia faced similar difficulties in education and struggled to provide schoolchildren with equal learning opportunities. The emergence of the coronavirus has only exacerbated the situation.
According to statistics, students from Asia are 18 months behind their European peers. Most of the students showed low literacy rates and slow absorption of educational material.
The growing gap between pupils from families with different income levels is also worrying. This creates obstacles for full-fledged distance learning, because most schoolchildren do not have either the necessary equipment for classes or the required internet access. Thus, during the pandemic, poor families and those who live in rural areas are at most risk.
According to a leading education specialist in Central Asia, the pandemic has had a serious negative impact on the education system. The consequences will be visible possibly even decades from now, and this is far from the worst case-scenario.
To rehabilitate themselves, the countries of Central Asia made the decision to use all available channels to ensure uninterrupted access of students to the vital learning materials. The main goal facing the central authorities today is to improve the standard and flexibility of distance learning, and to ensure the adequate terms under which students use it.
As new curricula are created, special educational plans will also be made that aim to raise standards of secondary education in Asia.
