Future-Ready Education: Enhancing Accessibility & Building | IGF 2023

Audience

The analysis reveals several important points regarding the need for improvements in education systems and the impact of technology on learning. Here is a more detailed summary of the main findings:

1. Nepal requires more practical and skills-based education to enhance employability. Despite having years of formal education, Nepalese students struggle to find employment. However, short-term skills courses have shown to lead to employment opportunities with higher wages in foreign countries. Therefore, there is a strong argument for incorporating practical and skills-based education to better prepare students for the job market and increase their employability.

2. It is crucial to incorporate digital literacy, digital skills, and re-skilling in the education system. Pedagogical changes are necessary to shift from traditional teaching techniques to modern, skills-based methods. Additionally, the proposition for ‘finishing school’ concepts in Nepal highlights the need for teaching relevant and practical skills that align with the demands of the digital era and enable students to succeed in the current job market. In summary, the integration of digital literacy and skills is urgently required in the education system.

3. The youth express concerns about AI readiness and the ethical use of AI tools in education. University students are interested in using AI tools such as ChatGBT to assist with homework. However, questions arise regarding ethical guidelines and best practices for the use of AI in education. It is necessary to address these concerns and ensure that the integration of AI tools in the learning process is responsible and beneficial.

4. The role of individuals and youth in promoting digital literacy is questioned. It is important to understand the actions that individuals can take to contribute to the development of digital literacy. Fostering a culture of continuous learning, digital skills development, and active engagement with technology among individuals and especially the youth is crucial for promoting digital literacy and bridging the digital divide.

5. Finding digital solutions for remote locations to implement AI and digital tools is of utmost importance. In the case of the Philippines, which comprises over 7,000 islands, many remote locations lack internet and utility services. It is essential to develop initiatives and tools that can bridge this digital divide and provide access to AI and digital technologies in under-served areas. This will help enhance education opportunities and equalize access to resources for students in remote locations.

6. Specific initiatives and tools are needed to help under-served, remote schools access AI and digital technologies. The Philippines has numerous remote and under-served schools that require dedicated efforts to provide them with access to educational technology resources. Such initiatives will ensure equal opportunities and bridge the digital gap between urban and rural areas.

7. While the internet and technology themselves are neutral, their usage can be potentially harmful. Educating individuals about responsible and safe technology use is crucial to mitigate potential negative impacts. Promoting digital literacy, online safety, and critical thinking skills will empower individuals to navigate the digital landscape responsibly and safely.

8. The multistakeholder model is critical for inclusive decision-making. Inclusive decision-making requires input from multiple stakeholders to ensure diverse perspectives are considered and social inclusivity is promoted. By involving various stakeholders, more comprehensive and effective solutions can be developed to address the challenges in education and technology.

9. Resilience in digital education requires inclusive design, acceptance of diversity, and empathy. To ensure that digital education is accessible and beneficial to all learners, inclusive design principles are essential. Considering a variety of user needs and creating learning environments that embrace diversity and foster empathy will enable all students to benefit from digital education resources.

10. Community involvement is crucial for a better-shared future. Learning from each other as a community can lead to progress and enrich the educational experience. Active involvement of communities in educational activities and decision-making processes nurtures a sense of ownership and shared responsibility, contributing to the overall improvement of education systems.

11. Promoting inclusive, equitable, and quality education through the internet is important. The Internet Society’s special interest group on education focuses on advocating for this cause. By leveraging the internet’s vast potential, opportunities can be created to provide quality education to all individuals, especially those who are marginalized or face barriers to accessing traditional education systems.

In conclusion, the analysis highlights the importance of practical and skills-based education, the incorporation of digital literacy, the ethical use of AI tools, and community involvement in enhancing the quality and accessibility of education. Furthermore, it emphasizes the significance of inclusive decision-making, resilience in digital education, and promoting digital literacy. Addressing these concerns and effectively leveraging technology will create more inclusive and equitable opportunities for learners worldwide.

Vallarie Wendy Yiega

In the analysis, the speakers highlight the importance of future education being skills-oriented to prepare students for emerging careers. They argue that the shift from regurgitation-based learning to critical thinking and creativity is essential. Furthermore, they discuss the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital tools on education methods.

The speakers also emphasize the need for practical steps beyond policies and legislation to be taken by governments and organizations. They provide examples such as the Universal Service Fund in Kenya, which focuses on providing internet access, and stress the importance of accountability and monitoring in policy implementation.

The accessibility of low-cost devices and internet connectivity is deemed vital for education. The speakers mention telecom players in Kenya partnering with the government to provide low-cost devices and highlight the role of the internet in accessing education tools and platforms.

The analysis also underscores the importance of equipping educators with the necessary digital skills. The need for curriculum integration with digital subjects is identified, and the challenge of the digital skills gap among educators is acknowledged.

The establishment of digital libraries and cross-border collaboration in education is seen as necessary. However, further details or evidence supporting these arguments are not provided in the analysis.

Infrastructure is identified as essential for implementing digital education. It is noted that urban areas often have better access to digital tools, creating a divide with rural regions. The analysis also highlights how infrastructure issues can hinder efforts to understand digital tools. Collaborations with internet service providers and private companies are considered crucial for infrastructure development.

Data privacy and cybersecurity are raised as concerns. The speakers refer to a school that was fined for inappropriate use of students’ images for advertisement, and they note a lack of awareness among educators regarding data protection obligations. Firewalls and data protection measures are suggested as necessary in schools.

Continual professional development and reskilling of educators regarding new technological tools are emphasized. The analysis suggests the need for resources to be created for regular skilling and reskilling, and training on new technologies, such as generative AI, is recommended.

The potential positive and negative impacts of generative AI tools in education are discussed. The analysis highlights that AI can assist in tasks such as drafting emails while adding value without replacing humans. However, it also states that understanding how to use generative AI tools ethically and responsibly is essential.

The analysis includes a quote from a tech lawyer who is favorable toward the use of technology for positive impact, suggesting a pro-technology stance.

Self-education in the field of internet governance is seen as crucial. The analysis mentions that the Internet Society offers online courses to engage in the internet governance space.

Understanding the local context is considered necessary for successfully navigating in internet governance and achieving change and impact.

Joining relevant youth organizations is recommended for enhancing skills in navigating the internet space. The analysis mentions an organization in Asia that has helped build communities, advocate for digital literacy, and provide opportunities.

Persistence and continuous engagement in the space are highlighted as factors that can lead to a better understanding of digital literacy and internet governance.

The analysis emphasizes the importance of carrying this generation of digitally skilled learners into the future. Each-one-teach-one is suggested as a mantra to ensure that everyone learns digital skills.

Lastly, the speakers advocate for contribution through policy-making, building innovative solutions, and raising voices for a future-ready digitally skilled education system.

Overall, the analysis discusses various aspects of future education, including the need for skills-oriented learning, digital access and infrastructure, educator training, data protection, AI tools, and internet governance. It highlights the potential positive impact of technology but also emphasizes the importance of responsible use and continual professional development. The analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the main points and arguments surrounding the future of education.

Ananda

The analysis explores several key aspects of the intersection between technology and education. One important point highlighted is the importance of reskilling educators and contextualising technology in the local context. This emphasises the need to equip educators with the necessary skills to effectively incorporate technology into their teaching methods and adapt it to suit the specific needs and challenges of their students and communities. The argument stresses the significance of this reskilling process, emphasising that it is vital for preparing educators to thrive in the era of Industry 4.0.

Another significant aspect highlighted is the role of multi-stakeholder engagement in the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and the collaborative effort required to build a sustainable ecosystem. The analysis emphasises that effective policies and initiatives in the technology and education sectors require the active involvement and support of the government, civil society, and the private sector. It argues that the collective efforts of these stakeholders are essential for creating an enabling environment conducive to the successful integration of technology in education.

The potential of community networks and community learning centres in providing internet connectivity is also explored. The analysis points out that these networks, owned and managed by the respective communities, are particularly important in areas where there is a lack of connectivity. An example from Africa is highlighted to demonstrate how community networks can bridge the digital divide in underserved regions. This suggests that the establishment of such networks and learning centres can play a crucial role in expanding internet access and promoting knowledge-sharing in remote and marginalised communities.

Furthermore, the analysis emphasises the value of open courseware in rural technology and its role in improving access to quality education. It mentions initiatives like the Rachel Foundation and Khan Academy as examples of platforms that offer open educational resources. These repositories provide free and easily accessible educational materials, which can be particularly beneficial for individuals in rural areas who may face challenges in accessing traditional educational resources.

An important observation made in the analysis is the need to involve and empower youth in expanding internet access and making it more inclusive. The analysis asserts that young people are the most significant stakeholders in the internet and have a crucial role to play in improving its accessibility and inclusivity. By encouraging youth participation and giving them opportunities to contribute their perspectives and ideas, the analysis argues that the internet can become a more inclusive and empowering tool for all.

In addition to these key points, the analysis also mentions the existence of open source repositories such as Rachel and Colibri, which provide educational resources that can be broadcasted or transferred offline. It highlights the benefits of these repositories, including regular updates and the ability to share educational content without internet connectivity. The analysis concludes by emphasising the need to investigate and implement feasible technological solutions like Rachel and Colibri to meet the demand for education resources. It mentions the feasibility study conducted by Ananda and their team, who are seeking funds to upgrade the deployments of these resources.

Overall, the analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the different aspects of technology and education, highlighting the importance of reskilling educators, multi-stakeholder engagement, community networks, open courseware, youth involvement, and open source repositories. It offers valuable insights into the potential of technology to enhance education and emphasises the collaborative efforts required to ensure equitable and inclusive access to educational resources.

Binod Basnath

The analysis emphasises the need for robust digital education policies in Asia. It suggests that governments should have a wide vision and mission in order to develop these policies. It highlights the experience from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a significant impact on education, as evidence for the need for resilience in education systems. The analysis also stresses the importance of adequate infrastructure development. It points out that in Nepal, only a third of community schools have minimal digital resources. Additionally, post-COVID, only 36% of Nepal has broadband connectivity, falling significantly short of the 90% target.

Inclusion is identified as a vital aspect of ensuring no one is left behind in digital education. The analysis argues that inclusion should be embedded from the design to the implementation of learning practices. It points out that without inclusive educational design, vulnerable communities are at risk of being left behind.

Digital literacy and competence development are deemed indispensable in digital education. The analysis highlights the need for content in local languages to cater to local needs. It also highlights that without digital literacy, students, parents, and teachers will struggle to implement digital education programs.

The analysis concludes that a comprehensive approach is needed to build digital education resilience. It advocates for well-planned and inclusive policies, adequate infrastructural development, and competence development. It highlights the pivotal role of competent governance in foreseeing and preparing for the challenges of the digital education system. The analysis also points out a gap in infrastructural development and competence for ICT usage in the education sector in Nepal.

Another argument presented in the analysis is the disparity in employment value for formal education and technical skill training. It mentions a case where a student in Nepal found a high-paying job in Japan after three months of specialized training, but struggled to find a job in their home country after around 15-20 years of formal education. This highlights the need to produce a workforce that caters to the needs of the modern technology era, as currently, young people are not getting jobs due to a lack of required skills.

The analysis also discusses the importance of digital methods in the learning system. It suggests the need for a digital curriculum, digital pedagogy, and a digital means of assessment system to match the pace with Industry 4.0.

The analysis highlights youth participation in Internet Governance Forums as a means to advocate for necessary changes in the digital education landscape. It encourages youths to take their competency back to their communities to empower more youths with digital competency and literacy.

Noteworthy observations from the analysis include the implementation of ICT resource units in Nepal, which create an internal networking system for communities and enable sharing of information through voice calls, video calls, and messaging systems. The analysis also mentions the pilot project of a locally accessible cloud system in the Philippines, aimed at being used for education and health sectors for marginalized and backward communities in Nepal.

The analysis calls for more awareness among policymakers about the use of ICT in education. It suggests that if implemented correctly, ICT education can be more inclusive and accessible. It highlights the need for policymakers to be aware of an ICT education master plan, as this can be an effective tool to reach education goals. The analysis notes that Asian countries are moving towards a second ICT education master plan.

Ashirwa Chibatty

The analysis of digital education and equitable access to the internet reveals several important points. Firstly, it highlights that although the internet is meant to be accessible to everyone, access is not distributed equally. This raises concerns about the fairness and inclusivity of digital education.

One major challenge in the digital education ecosystem is the language barrier. Many digital content and resources are primarily available in English, which may not be the first language for a significant proportion of the global population. This language digital divide hinders individuals’ ability to fully engage and benefit from digital education.

Another challenge highlighted is the existence of skill gaps for digital teaching and learning, as well as industrial skill divides. These gaps limit individuals’ capacity to effectively utilise digital technologies for educational purposes. Bridging these gaps is essential to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities for quality education in the digital age.

Equitable access to digital education requires overcoming various challenges related to accessibility, literacy, assessment, and security. According to an IEEE essay, Ashirwa Chibatty outlines four pillars: accessibility, literacy, assessment, and security, which are essential to addressing these challenges. Ensuring that digital education is accessible to individuals with disabilities, promoting digital literacy, implementing effective assessment methods, and ensuring cybersecurity are crucial components of equitable access.

The analysis also shows that gender disparities exist in accessing and utilising digital technologies. Women and non-binary individuals face more exclusion due to socio-cultural norms. As per GSMA’s State of Mobile Connectivity Report 2022, women are 20 percent less likely than men to use mobile internet. Addressing these gender inequalities and reducing digital divide along gender lines is crucial in achieving equitable access to digital education.

The multistakeholder model is emphasised as being crucial when dealing with technology. The involvement of various stakeholders, including governments, educators, technology providers, and communities, is essential to ensure that the use of technology in education is equitable, inclusive, and aligned with the needs of all learners.

Inclusivity and diversity are also highlighted as important considerations in the design process of digital education. Recognising and valuing different perspectives and experiences can lead to the development of more inclusive and effective educational technologies and platforms. Ashirwa Chibatty advocates for learning from each other, being empathetic, and working as a community to drive progress in digital education.

Ultimately, the aim is to achieve a global internet that promotes inclusive, equitable, and quality education for all. Ashirwa encourages individuals to join Internet Society’s special interest group on education, highlighting the importance of collective efforts to advocate for an inclusive and equitable education via the internet.

In conclusion, the analysis underscores the need for equitable access to the internet to ensure inclusive and quality digital education. Language barriers, skill gaps, and gender inequalities are among the challenges that need to be addressed. The involvement of multiple stakeholders and the consideration of inclusivity and diversity in the design process are essential for achieving equitable access to digital education. Creating a global internet that supports inclusive and equitable education is a shared responsibility that requires collaboration and commitment from all sectors of society.

Umut Pajaro Velasquez

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the digital divide in Latin America’s education system, particularly in rural and marginalized communities. These communities face a lack of access to digital resources and tools for education, intensifying existing inequalities. Due to lockdowns and school closures, the reliance on digital education has significantly increased. However, many students in underserved areas lack the necessary devices and internet connectivity for effective online learning.

To address this issue, Latin American governments have taken steps to promote internet access in rural areas. Laws have been enacted in Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina to prioritize and support community-driven internet accessibility. These efforts aim to bridge the digital gap and provide equal educational opportunities for all students, regardless of their location.

Monitoring and accountability of resources is crucial to improving internet and device access. Misuse of resources intended for enhancing digital access is a challenge that needs to be addressed. Implementing programs to monitor and ensure proper utilization of these resources is essential for effective implementation and equitable outcomes.

Teacher training is vital in delivering quality education, especially in digital learning. However, many teachers were ill-prepared to use digital tools during the pandemic. Tailored training programs that address their specific needs and equip them with the skills to effectively use digital resources for teaching are essential.

Digital literacy is another key aspect of modern education. Developing after-school programs and online resources and incorporating digital literacy into the curriculum can help students acquire skills necessary for success in the digital era. Digital literacy programs should focus on competencies such as problem-solving, critical thinking, communication, and teamwork.

As reliance on digital education increases, cybersecurity infrastructure in schools and educational institutions becomes paramount. Educators and students need professional development opportunities to enhance their understanding of cybersecurity best practices. Implementing strong firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and other security measures is crucial for safeguarding sensitive data and ensuring online safety.

Ethical and legal implications of integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into education should also be considered. While youth are aware of AI’s potential, they may not fully understand its ethical and legal aspects. Educators should teach students about the ethical considerations and legal frameworks surrounding AI use to ensure responsible implementation and usage.

Building human capacities, such as critical thinking, in AI education is important. Emphasizing critical thinking and problem-solving skills can help students navigate the changing landscape of technology and utilize AI for positive outcomes.

Voice plays a crucial role in advocating for desired technologies and effective implementation. Through participation in policy-making processes, individuals can contribute their perspectives and shape the development of technology infrastructure in education.

In conclusion, education’s future entails constant digital transformation and adaptability. Addressing the digital divide and education inequality is crucial, particularly in the global south. Ensuring access to necessary resources, such as internet connectivity and devices, while developing the skills and capacities required for success in the digital era is essential. By doing so, an inclusive, equitable, and technologically proficient education system can be fostered, preparing students for the challenges and opportunities of the future.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you very much, and now I will turn it over to Mr. Ashirwa Chibatty. Good morning, everyone. I’m Ashirwa Chibatty, the chair of Internet Society’s special interest group on Internet for Education, and today I will be moderating and organizing a workshop. This session is for all of us to move towards a global Internet that ensures inclusive and equitable quality education and promotes lifelong learning for all. So without further ado, let me introduce my speaker, Mr. Binod Basnath. Mr. Binod Basnath is co-founder and director of Educating Nepal and Empowering Asia. He is an MPhil graduate from Kathmandu University in development studies with his focus on education. He is a researcher in the field of digital and inclusive education. He was APRIGF fellow in 2017 and Austrian awards alumni since 2019 upon completion of a course on inclusive education and policies and practices from Queensland University of Technology Australia. He is also an Australian awards impact ambassador for Nepal upon his efforts for digital education post-COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal. He is a member of Internet Society’s accessibility standing group, and he is fluent in English, Nepali, and Hindi, and he also speaks a little bit of broken Japanese, I guess. Mr. Binod, please speak a little bit of Japanese. The next talented figure we have here is Ms. Valerie Yeager. She’s an advocate of high court of Kenya and Internet governance lawyer and a tech policy analyst. She currently works as an associate in intellectual property and technology media and telecommunications team at Bowman’s law firm. She was a youth ambassador at the United Nations Internet governance forum held in Poland, a youth volunteer at IGF in Ethiopia, as well as a youth leader for declaration of the future of the Internet under the European Union and Czech Republic. She has also been a fellow with Internet Society, ICANN, AFRINIC, and Kenya school of Internet governance. She was an ambassador for digital grassroots, a youth-led community in charge of building awareness around digital rights in Africa. Valerie, too, is multilingual, and she fluently speaks English and Swahili, and believes in being a woman in the area. She probably watches too many Korean movies, so she has a little bit of Asia in herself as well. So Binod is from Asia, and Valerie is representing Africa at the moment. And joining us online, we have Umut Pajaro-Velquez. They have a BA in communications and an MA in cultural study, and currently works as a researcher on issues related to digital rights, ethics, and governance of AI. They are focused on finding solutions to biases towards gender, race, and other forms of diversity that are often excluded or marginalized in the constitution of data that feeds these technologies. They are the chair of gender-standing group of the Internet Society and the coordinator of youth like IGF and Youth IGF Colombia. They also chair the gender-standing group of ISOC, and they are fluent in English and Spanish. That’s why we often use them as a translator, and he provides his translating services for free. We also have Shraddha as our online moderator from the same SIG, Internet for Education. So, without further ado, I would like to move on to the next slide. So, we say that the Internet is everyone. In Internet Society, we believe that the Internet is for everyone, but there are some food for thoughts for you. There are some things, there are some questions that we need to ask ourselves and within our community. Those are like, does everybody have equitable access? We say the Internet is for everyone, but is access equitable? What is meaningful connectivity, and what is digital poverty? These are the things that we need to ask ourselves when we talk about Internet, and when we talk about education for all, and Internet for all. So, when we talk about digital education, before I move into my slides, the flow of this session would be briefest at the stage, and then move towards our speaker. There are a few questions that we need to address, and our speakers are from diverse regions, from Africa, from Asia, and from Latin America and Caribbean, so we hope to have a diverse voice here. So, there are certain challenges when it comes to digital education ecosystem. So, what are those challenges? The first one is language digital divide. A lot of content that are available on the Internet are in English language, which might not be the first language of everybody. Actually, it’s not the first language of most of the people, and there are some people in our area who are not that much fluent in English, so that’s one of the challenge to quality education. The next challenge is lack of skills for digital teaching and learning. So, post-COVID, everybody, we moved towards digital education. Everybody was focused on work from home, online classes, and during online classes, the teachers and administrators didn’t have that adequate knowledge and skills for teaching and learning. And the third one is the industrial skill divide. We’re moving towards fourth industrial revolution, how we say industry 4.0, education 2.0 for industry 4.0, so how do we cater those needs? There still is a lot of divide among that, and what that is doing is it’s furthering the digital divide, and that’s not what we want. So, moving further, I would like to share the IEEE’s essay Industry Connections Report on Digital Resilience. You can scan the QR code for the full report, but when we see about the challenges, we have four levels of pillars for challenges. One relates to accessibility, that connects to infrastructure, connectivity, and language divide. The second one is on literacy that focuses on digital content and solutions, skills for teachers and learning, and the industrial skill divide. The third comes the assessment. How do we measure the quality of learning, and how do we engage a learner in online space? And the third one is the challenge of security, cybersecurity, human resilience, building human digital resilience that’s most important, and what are the future implications that we might bring when we are shifting the whole world towards the blended form of education? And, again, there are people who do not have Internet connection, so they cannot get education. There are people who have Internet connection, but they’re not very much used to it, so they don’t know how to use it. And the third one is those who know how to use Internet, those who are very much active Internet, are very much prone to cyber risk, and when we talk about education and bringing our young kids into the space, we have to be very careful about those. And, yes, the social cultural norms that restrict the role of women and girls in society hinder their access to the use of digital technologies. And as per GSMA’s State of Mobile Connectivity Report 2022, worldwide, women are 20 percent less likely than men to use mobile Internet. And now when we talk about gender, it’s not a binary. It’s not zero and one. There are a lot of spectrums, and if a woman are 20 percent less likely, the non-binary gender, they are more prone to it. So with that, I would like to move directly to our first question that we would like to address. It will be a different session. We would be asking questions, and the speaker would obviously share their experience and set the stage, but we’d also want more interaction coming from the audience here so that together we can learn more and do something for the betterment of society. So with that, I move to my first question. How can governments organize and ensure equitable access to digital education infrastructure in Asia Pacific, Africa, and Latin American Caribbean region? First, to set the stage on this question, I would like to move to Binod Basnet to share his experience from Asia’s perspective.

Binod Basnath:
Thank you, Ashwath, for the question. Before I address the question, I’d like to welcome all of you to this session, to all those who are participating here at Kyoto International Conference Center, and those participating online. Thank you all for being here, and I do hope for a very proactive participation and engagement of everybody throughout this session. Coming back to the question, the question actually does not have a rigid answer. Well, the question in itself is very broad, and I cannot take much time on elaborating every aspect. I’ll try to be as precise as possible. I’ll try to sum this up within four points. So talking about having a resilient digital education for each economy, especially for Asia, on my behalf, it will be much more about Nepal, because that’s where I’m from, and that is the context that I’ll be bringing in more. So it won’t be just Nepal. It will be representing many least-developed countries or developing nations as a whole. So for the first part, I think it’s very important for a nation, for a country, for its governance to have a wide vision and mission, and this also coincides with the researches done by ISOC as well. Until and unless we have a good vision, we cannot bring in good policies for the nation. Especially for Nepal, when we have just moved into a federal system of governance since 2015, we’re quite young with the federal system. We moved in from constitutional monarch, and the powers and responsibilities have been dispersed amongst three tiers of government, central, provincial, and local. So different aspects, different policies, and different duties have been assigned to different tiers of government, and we still have to make much more policies and programs that help each government understand what their roles are. So that is one aspect that we need to think about, and especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve understood that we had a huge impact of COVID-19 on education as well, especially for the LDCs. It was a hard time for education, and it’s not unsafe to say that actually remote education was something that prevented a complete meltdown of education during the lockdown periods of COVID-19. Saying that, for Nepal, instead of use of internet for education, use of radio, use of television were more effective than the internet way of education, because we did not imagine this earlier, and we’re not prepared for it. And that was the same case for all other developing nations as well. So the policies that were devised before COVID-19 has to be reconsidered and re-evaluated. Similarly, when we had an earthquake in 2015, there was disruption in education, but then the government came up with different building codes and different modality of learning. But after COVID, I think we’ve forgotten a lot about disasters, and we’re going back to our normal lives, forgetting what we had to change for education. And it’s easy because we have the Education 2030 Plan, the SDG4, and what its targets are. It’s easier for government to align ourselves with those targets and meet those targets. So the first point for me is a proper vision and mission. The second point is infrastructural development. Of course, without proper infrastructure, we cannot imagine the new way of learning, remote education, hybrid learning, or blended education. This requires proper infrastructure. Talking about Nepal again, we have around over 35,000 schools in Nepal, 27,000 of them being community schools, 6,000 of them being institutional or private schools, and over 1,000 being religious schools. Maybe the private schools by themselves are quite well off in comparison to the community schools. When we look at the data, we have bare minimum of one-third of those community schools that have minimum infrastructure for ICT. Now, having infrastructure for ICT is one point, and adopting it for education and other uses is another point. Even having infrastructure may not be enough if we’re not using it because they are just medium. And when we look at the internet penetration rate, we had a huge target of reaching 90% broadband connectivity by 2021, but post-COVID, we’ve just reached to around 36%. So without infrastructure and without its implementation, we cannot imagine the new modality of learning for schools and children. My third point will be one of the most important pillars, and that’s inclusion. We need inclusion for everyone because anyone can be a person with disability if we are not provided with right infrastructure support or any other forms of support. So we have the target of not leaving anyone behind. So when we design any curriculum or any learning practices, it should be inclusive from the design to its implementation and any other thing that is there beyond. So inclusion for PWD, IDPs, women, marginalized communities, vulnerable communities, and gender, and many other, those are the things that has to be considered from the beginning till the end. And the third aspect is, of course, it is connected with, again, infrastructure, but it’s about content, it’s about competence, and it’s about skills. We need contents that can be used for digital education, and we need them in the language that are, we need them in different languages that tailor to the local needs of the people. And talking about competence without teachers, students, parents, and everyone having competence for digital literacy, it’s very difficult to implement these programs in the schools or communities. And I think I’ll come back to this point for the other questions, but I think I sum up my answers within these four points. Thank you.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you so much, Vinod. Of course, the policies that we make in Nepal, from my personal experience, are good sometimes, but we also need to be realistic more than idealistic when it comes to educating kids, because Internet and digital technology are just tools, and without human interaction, the basic education needs for young children cannot be fulfilled. And being said that, I think there’s a lot of things that echoes with Africa as well. So, Valerie, to you, how are things in Africa, and how do you think that the African government, African union organizations are doing, and what can they do for equitable access to education?

Vallarie Wendy Yiega:
Thank you so much for that question. I think a lot that has been said by Vinod is very similar to what happens in Africa as a continent, but also in my country, Kenya, where I come from. So, because he’s handled it very well, I’ll just give you contextual examples of what happens and why we’re talking about being future-ready in terms of education and the skills that you’re going to get. Because I think we’re coming from an era where education was just given to students. You have to get the information, get the content, and regurgitate the same for, say, exams or passing tests. But now we’re looking into a future that is very skills-oriented, looking into a reimagined future where we’re getting careers that were not there previously. So how can government and organizations come in to ensure that we have a future-ready form of education? And one thing I’ve seen is that it’s a lot about policies and legislation, but more the implementation and the practical steps to get us there as opposed to just putting the law as it’s written, but it cannot be implemented. So I’ll give you an example. What we have in Kenya is what you call the Universal Service Fund. And I know it cuts across, because I’m sure Uganda has something similar as well, so it cuts across some of the African countries and globally as well. So what this fund does is that a lot of the companies that work around technology or telecommunication then donate to this fund in partnership with government to ensure there’s accessibility and access to the Internet. And I think over the years, it’s been a fund that has been slow to be taken up because there’s been no accountability and monitoring of how the fund is performing, is the money going into the fund, is the fund being practically implemented across these regions that require Internet access. But I think now what we are seeing, especially with our government, with our Ministry of ICT in particular, is that they’ve put systems in place to ensure that there’s accountability and monitoring of this fund to ensure that we get to that goal of Internet access, especially in rural areas. I’d like to connect what my co-panelist said earlier about what COVID did. Because if you look at it, I think if we look at life generally, as the studies that we do, we may tend to forget our why. If we look at the impact that is made across and over time, then we better understand what this impact is. So I’ll give you an example. During COVID, the people who were staying in the urban areas were able to continue their education because they were connected to the Internet, but those who were in the rural areas, because of lack of the Internet as well as issues such as power connectivity, they were not able to continue. So what that meant, especially now with the tagline of leaving no one behind, is that we potentially left a number of students who have a gap that they need to fill in order to get to where the students who are able to continue their education seamlessly are now at. And this, over time, creates a situation where you have a form of a global south, but one that is heavily impacted by education. You already have a literacy gap within the countries that are already suffering from a lot of developmental issues. So this is one of the things that, from a policy perspective and from a legislation perspective, is very important to understand to monitor what that impact is. Because once you’re able to monitor where that impact is and you’re able to know where the gap was left, then you’re able to make steps towards ensuring that that gap is filled. I’ll give you another example. I’m also a telecommunications lawyer, so I work in the telecom space. And what we found is a lot of the telecom players back in Kenya, what they’re trying to do now is partner with the government to ensure these low-cost devices that can access to the internet. Because it’s one thing to have an access to the internet, but to lack the device that actually helps you connect to the internet and get that skill or that education that you’re looking for. Because one thing that’s very clear is that internet for education is very important. There’s a lot that’s happening on the internet in terms of education, you’ve seen your usual Google career certificates, you’ve seen the skills, you’ve seen all these platforms that are offering education. And just like now that I was talking about Asia, even like what, if you followed the SDG conversation that was happening at UNGA, there was the example of the Khan Academy and what that impact has been like. However, we can’t get there if we’re not looking at, number one, connectivity, number two, low-cost devices. And then back to the point of becoming digital ready in terms of the future skills, are we also looking at curriculum integration? What digital subjects, skills, learnings are being put into the, what we’d call the traditional quote-unquote curriculum that’s happening. And this is a full multi-stakeholder approach because what you find as well is that even the educators do not have the capacity to offer some of these digital skills that we are seeing, you require them to be future ready for the future that we are going into. I’ll give you an example. We’ve been hearing all these stories about plagiarism and how generative AI tools work. And the question is, we are now moving into an era where it’s going to be more about critical analysis because what we are saying is that we are bringing in artificial intelligence, we are bringing in all these tools which are extremely of positive impact with the right navigation. Are we also equipping ourselves and are we also equipping our governments, our legislators, our policy makers with the right information to ensure that we are building a digital-ready future for our education systems where we’re now moving from heavily regurgitation of content to more critical analysis and more thinking, allowing students to think and to create in a world that is moving so much across thinking and critical analysis. Yeah, so also to my last point, it would be we are now moving into a space where we are going to require a lot more digital libraries. Previously, it was about having books, but how can we access the books with the kind of generation that we are bringing in? We want to bring in a situation where there’s cross-border collaboration even when it comes to education so that we have a situation where skills can be cross-exchanged, there can be a lot of collaboration across those who’ve developed a bit more and those who are still looking to develop. So I think that’s also one of the points that governments as well as organizations should be looking into to ensure that we have a digital 3D and future for education. Thank you.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you. Yeah, though we are from diverse region as we’re humans, our basic needs are the same and for education, right to education is one of the basic need now, so is access to internet. So the challenges are same, but obviously we have to have localized context for that. So moving to our next speaker, Umut, they are online speakers, so can we get him on the screen, please?

Umut Pajaro Velasquez:
Hello.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
To you, Umut.

Umut Pajaro Velasquez:
Hello, how are you? Well, thank you for the question. I’m going to share some key points about the Latin America situation when it comes to digital education. Probably as some of my previous speakers already said, COVID-19 changed the situation here in Latin America when it comes to digital educations because we realize that actually we create a bigger gap when it comes to rural areas and also to marginalize communities that were living inside of the cities. So in order to manage that in a better way, some other governments came up with some kind of solution that I found pretty much in common in several governments in Latin America. And I’m based in Colombia for some of the solution that we’re starting to implement in Colombia are the same solution that is starting to be implemented in countries like Brazil, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and others in Latin America. So one of the many solution is access because in the way the governments are trying to do it is to promote, not only that the private sector get to the rural areas, but also creating community networks and I invest in organizations and people in the rural areas also create their own networks to be connected to the internet. So this way to expand the access not only to the social use of the internet, but also to a school and already location institutional institution, as I say, especially in rural areas and only in certain areas in the country. They try, they create laws, especially in most of the country that are trying to promote the partnership between public and private sector and so some kind of socialized race to promote that some private companies get to solve certain rural areas that is hard to reach and all the new domains as a mechanism so as community driving internet accessibility, for example, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina and recently developed laws related to community driving internet accessibility where they have a special rate for this kind of connection and giving access when the use is mainly to education. The second one is they’re trying to get through affordable devices and connectivity and governance organizations and also working in providing affordable devices and connectivity to a student and teacher through several governmental programs and one of the things that we already said, we are also trying to implement ways to monitor how the resources are being used to get those devices because we had that problem and sometimes those resources are not being used to get those devices or to get internet to the schools or to the students. So, it’s not only to create programs that is school-based distribution and also task-based and another incentive for also monitoring those programs in order that we can give access through internet and access through the different devices to people especially in rural areas and in other areas of the country. Another aspect is that we are working right now a lot is trained teacher administration and administrators on digital tools and resources because we understand that after the pandemic of COVID-19 that most of the teacher wasn’t ready to face the digital spaces and how to teach using different technological resources. So, we understand that we need to train on how to use the tools and resources effectively in the classroom and we understand that this training should be tailored to a specific needs of the schools and the community because it’s not the same being the beach in a rural area or to indigenous communities or in a marginalized part of a city or in a private school than in other spaces. And finally, is develop digital literacy programs for students. Right now, some countries are working in changing the curriculum and create more digital literacy skills because we understand that these skills are needed in the current technological development. So, students can be actually be aware of how to use not only the tool for good but also for their daily lives. Some countries are developing school-based programs and others are working on after-school programs and also developing online resources so people can get, so students of every age can be, we can be a capacity builder for students. So, very much is like the four points that we are working here in Latin America the most. And so, we have other problems, but I think we share a lot in common with Asia Pacific and Africa. So, I don’t want to repeat what my colleagues already said.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you, Umut. I think that’s a very good start to our session and we can already find so much commonalities within our diversity as well, which is something that we can celebrate about always. So, okay, so we all agree that equitable access to digital education is needed, but it does come with other implications, future implications as well. So, my question next to the panel as well as the audience here is like, what policy measures can be implemented to enhance educators’ capacity and address the cybersecurity risk in digital education space across the region? And how can digital education empower youths with the necessary skills for evolving labor market? Because we know that the future workforce is going to be different. The third industrial revolution is already over. We’re into fourth industrial revolution. And the purpose of education would be to create a labor force that matches the requirements, the needs of the future market. So, I would start this time on the reverse order with Umut first. So, what necessary skills are needed for evolving labor market and how can we enhance educators’ capacity to do that also by making them secured and safe in the cyberspace? To you, Umut, again.

Umut Pajaro Velasquez:
Okay, well, I think one of the things that we can actually do is start to provide professional development opportunities not only for teacher and also develop digital education standards for teachers and students. That means to not only to improve in our curriculars things about cybersecurity and how to prepare ourselves online, but also provide to teacher, for example, digital pedagogy about cybersecurity best practice. And so, one of the things that should do our governance in when it comes to policies and probably will be in this in cybersecurity infrastructure because this could be especially in Tupperware School, especially Tupperware School, another educational institution for cyber attack. Here in Colombia, we received a couple of weeks ago a massive attack on probably the public sector and a lot of public universities were affected by it. So, this showed the importance that implementing strong firewalls, intrusion detection system and other security measures to protect the information inside of schools or educational institutions. And when it comes to probably our job and necessary skills for the development market in that means, I think that digital education program should focus on developing transferable skills that can be applied to various new jobs. This is the school include problem solving skills, capacity, critical thinking, communication and teamwork that probably those things that we are going to be using more in a technological landscape where AI is present, especially critical thinking because we’re going to rely a lot on that in the future, in our future market life. Also provide opportunities for inspiration learning. This means that not only the way we educate our students is mostly just in a regular classroom but also providing we opportunity to gain real experience to interchange apprentices and other program. And it would help to, I don’t know, to scale the skill and knowledge they need to see in the workforce. And finally, I would say that I’m actually more experienced person or some employers that actually can teach the necessary skills what is needed in the actual, in the current labor market, but also with the future or the different trends when it comes to digital changes that we are living.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you. So Valerie, from African’s perspective, from Africa’s perspective, so what policy measures have been implemented, what lacks and what can be done to enhance educators capacity, addressing cyber risk, as well as making sure that the knowledge that we’re now providing to our future genders and caters the need of the future economy and the future market?

Vallarie Wendy Yiega:
Thank you so much. I’ll definitely give you a Kenyan perspective as well, but also just recognizing that within this conversation that Kenya is quite ahead when it comes to legislation, when it comes to the technology space, which may not be the same case as most African countries. But the first thing is to map out and find out what the gaps are in the education system because as we start to talk about educator capacity, we need to understand what are the gaps in the educator capacity to begin with. Number one, we have two forms of workforce. So we have the educators who are much more senior in the profession, and then we have the educators who are coming in who are much more junior and who may find, quote unquote, more ease in understanding the technological tools. So it’s a question of how are we going to put in place an intergenerational co-creation capacity framework where you’re not only skilling the newcomers, but you’re also re-skilling those who are senior in the profession because you do not want a situation where you’re saying you want to create a future for the education, a future that we definitely are going to see more of technological tools being in play when it comes to education, and the more senior teachers or educators are not able to interact with these tools. So we are going to see a lot more of an intergenerational co-creation and being able to be okay with a mindset shift of where the future is taking us as opposed to holding on to the different educator roles that we have seen before. I also liked Umut’s point on infrastructure. Again, the situation in Kenya and largely in Africa as well is that the more urban areas have access to this digital infrastructure. Most likely, I’ll give an example of Kenya, you’ll find schools within Nairobi are already using the technology, already have computers, already set up in terms of internet connectivity as well, whereas in the rural areas, some of the schools, maybe there’s only a computer in a rural school, one computer that maybe is used by the teachers to illustrate. So again, it questions the issue of digital infrastructure because it’s very hard to understand a technological tool when you don’t have access to it regularly, using it and testing out what can be done in terms of digital scaling as well. So infrastructure is a big one, but we see more and more that governments are putting in resources and funds into creating an opportunity for more infrastructure to come into the country. But I think, again, it goes back to our role as the multi-stakeholder model in terms of what are the internet service providers doing? What are the private sector doing? What are the companies doing who are offering the services? Are the governments actively reaching out to these companies to partner with them to ensure that there’s digital infrastructure when it comes to what can be done differently to create a future-ready workforce? Again, the issue of cybersecurity, I like that as well because what we’ve seen, and recently our Office of Data Protection Commissioner rolled out a penalty notice with a fine, with one of the greatest fines sent out to a school. And this is because what had happened is that the school had used the picture of the children as a form of advertisement to advertise a new intake for a school. The question that lied therein, and I was asking myself when I saw this penalty notice is that, is the school aware of their obligations when it comes to data protection, when it comes to children, especially because children’s data is one of the most sensitive data that is classified out there. So the question is, the same way we would have privacy by design and by default, are we also putting in measures to ensure that we have cybersecurity by design and by default? And I think what I had mentioned earlier, the issue of firewalls to ensure there’s no intrusion, are our educators aware that these are some of the technological tools that are being used to ensure cybersecurity? Because I think what you would not like to see is a data breach in a school because that potentially means that there’s a lot of children data that can then be exposed. And we’ve seen the whole discussions around trafficking, around what that data can be used for. So that’s something also that we need to look into in terms of cybersecurity, not only awareness, but also understanding how some of these tools are used and how they can be presented to educators to then use them as well. The other thing is that, what resources are also being rolled out for the educator capacity? And are we streamlining it in a way that we can have it in the curriculum integration for the educators as well? Because we’re not going to have one or two workshops for educators on what the internet means, what technological tools we are now facing. Because one thing that is very clear is that artificial intelligence and technology is moving very fast. I think previously we didn’t have generative AI, now we have generative AI. And now that we have generative AI, you’ve seen chargeability rollout, you’ve seen bad rollout, you’ve seen being rollout. So clearly there’s more innovation that’s coming through than how are we going to ensure that even as we move to skilling and re-skilling education. that all this is kept in mind to ensure that we have a future-ready workforce as we move forward.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you. Thank you, Valerie. Very, very interesting and valid points, especially when you talk about the seniors and junior educators that are coming in the field. Young people are very much adapted to technology, but the senior professors might not be, which might create some kind of problems. But yeah, intelligence and solidarity, that’s why it’s very much important in this phase of human development. Also about the future that you said, it’s a very, very valid point and it’s also about not going to the future, but it’s us that we take this society to the future. So the future that we’re going to see is what we are doing now. And the cost of cyber security always has been a problem for cyber security by design, but yes, if we invest on cyber security now, then in the long term, the cost is very much effective. That’s something that governments in developing countries need to understand. And also about the rural-urban divide that you talked, I may very much echo with you because when I started my work, the world was going on dual group computer, but when I took up NTM2 computer to a village, that was very much what attracted us to build up a school. On that note, I’m going to move to Binod before I go to the audience now. So Binod, what are your views

Binod Basnath:
on this topic? Thank you, Ashwin. I think most part have already been covered by my previous speakers, Umut and Valerie. But even so, I’ll try to answer those questions in two folds. First, about policies needed for cyber security. I won’t go much with the policies as of now because for the least developed countries, I think digital literacy is very important. We have a digital literacy of around 31% and we desire to reach to 70% in a couple of years as per our digital framework Nepal 2019. But that’s a hard task. Yes, in terms of literacy rate, we’re moving forward very well, but the digital literacy part seems to be quite stagnant. And to solve those issues, I think we need to learn from the existing frameworks. Like Umut said, we need to make our own frameworks tailored to our custom needs. We can take ideas from the digital intelligence framework. We can use the IST, International Society for Teachers Education framework, and there are various other teachers competency frameworks. But I think my concern or my idea would be for least developed countries to design a diploma course for producing trainers on digital literacy. And those trainings could be taken by teachers, educators, and administrators as well. And once we can create those trainers, those trainers could be hired by CSOs or other organizations or government bodies as well to take those trainers to different marginalized communities and give them training. And it’s quite urgent now. It’s because I think over 70% of the households in Nepal already have a smartphone, and they’re already using social media platforms very intensively. And with no knowledge about cyber security, cyber hygiene, this could be disastrous. And my second point would be especially for the teachers, because if teachers are well-equipped and well-empowered, they can teach the students, and students can go back home to empower their parents as well. We need to devise standards and guidelines for digital pedagogy, online learning environment, learning resources, virtual assessment, digital citizenship, and for educational management and information system. We need to have our local standards, but we can get inspired from the ones that are already existing in the Western countries or developed countries. So that’s my first fold of my question, of my answer. But before I go to my second answer, I’d like to start with a small example, small story that I’d like to share. And then I’d like to get some feedback from the audience, and then I’ll go back to my answer. In Nepal, I’m also the director of Empowering Asia, which gives skills to students that prepare them for the future workforce. And I was talking to one of these students, and he asked me a very serious question that kept me pondering for a while. He said, here in Nepal, I’ve been studying for around 15 to 20 years, 12 years for my college degree, four years for my university. And then I go out to the economy, I go back to the job market, but I strive for getting a job. I just cannot get one, and the one I get pays me so less. But I just do a course for three months, and it’s a job designed by the Japanese government. And I get a certificate, and the Japanese companies are willing to hire me for around $2,000 per month in a specified skilled worker visa. That three months is so little, but they are paying me so much to get a job. And back home in my own country, I studied for 18, 19 years, and I barely get $300 per month job. Why is that? He asked me this question, and I had to give it a thought before I answered him. But before we go back to this answer again, I’d like to ask two questions to my audience. One question is for everybody. The first question is, what do you imagine the future workforce will be like? That’s one question for anyone to answer. Second question is especially for people from, if you are from a developing nation or least developed nation, why do you think we have an issue of employment in our countries? If anyone from audience would like to answer one of these questions, I’d like to give the floor to you. Yes, sir, please.

Audience:
Hello, everyone. This is Narayan Timilshana from Nepal. So it’s wonderful to see Nepalese guys here as a speaker. Regarding your question, what I want to highlight here is basically we have lots of problem in our teaching pedagogy. Basically, when we see that lots of students, they pass out from the universities, they are unable to find their job placement right quickly in the start-ups or other industries. So basically what we are missing is not only the curriculum, but the way the teacher provides their skills and the new technologies in their teaching methodology. So that’s why we are debating about providing some, what we call it, the finishing school concepts in Nepal. We have been debating there in Nepal, but the main problem what I want to share in this platform and find some other experiences from African continent or something like that. Basically, when you talk about digital literacy, digital skills, re-skilling, it’s not a tangible thing, it’s an intangible thing, and it takes a lot of time. So government and everyone does not are willing to invest on these things right away. They like some infrastructure investment and something like that. So it’s very challenging. So what is your thought and how we can cope up with these sort of things? That’s my question. Would you like to answer? Let’s take an answer from one more and then we’ll come back. So hello to all the speakers. I’m Luke, and as a youth I’d just like to add my opinion to this issue about digital education for the future and pose a question as well, which is AI readiness. So currently as a university student, a lot of my friends are wondering should I use maybe applications like ChatGBT to help me with my homework, and if I do use it, what are the best practices in place? Because it’s easy to say, oh, you should not do this, but you should do that. But I feel that, as you said, there should be a diploma in maybe teaching digital literacy. So my question is what are the maybe measurable actions that we as youth can take right now to make sure that we’re using it ethically and not doing any unethical work like copying or stuff like that? Thank you. Could you repeat the question? So basically what are the best practices that youth can take right now to implement AI into

Binod Basnath:
their education? Okay, so for the first part, let me finish mine and then I’m sure you can answer the questions as well. Well, thank you so much for the audience participation and the question you posted. Within my ideas that I’m going to share from here on, I’d like to answer the questions that have been posed, and if I’m not sufficient, please help me out after that. How many of us have actually heard of industry 4.0, if you could raise your hand? Or fourth industrial revolution? I think Africa actually is very ahead in this matter. There are programs being launched to prepare people for the future workforce in terms of industry 4.0. Let me come back to that. You know about the industrial revolutions, right? The first industrial revolution being more being governed by mechanical workforce, like steam engines and stuff like that. The second industrial revolution was more about electrical items, televisions, and all other electrical items. The third industrial revolution being governed much by technology, computers, and the internet. And now we’re moving towards the fourth industrial revolution, and that is going to be governed more by, as one of our audience has already spoken, it’s going to be governed by artificial intelligence, big data, machine learning, and blockchain technologies, and stuff like that. Robotics as well. So, is our economy ready for those kind of activities, and are we preparing workforce that match those things? It’s a very difficult question that we need to answer. In terms of our least developed countries, we’re still producing – it’s a harsh reality, but I think we need to talk about that. We’re still producing workforce that cater to the needs of second industrial revolution, so we are always behind playing a catch-up game with the developed countries. We are like the rear wheel of the bicycle, which never catches up with the front wheel. So, that is one issue, but I think if we talk about this today, and if we go back home and work out for this, I think we can prepare workforce that are ready for the future economy. And that starts, of course, with the school. We need to have a digital curriculum, digital pedagogy, a digital means of assessment system, and prepare – especially the vocational and technical schools have to prepare workforce that we need for the future. And without that, I think we will again get stranded. The situation we’re facing now is the same. In our nations, that’s why we don’t get jobs, because we’re not matching the skills that are needed for our economy at the moment. Along with that, I’d just like to leave a small thought for you. Please hear me out here, and give it a thought as well. Being unemployed and being unemployable are two different things, and I think the latter one is more severe. Thank you.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
You rightly said, Binod, and also about the AI and how Africa is moving ahead. I think Africa and union is also looking for an AI center of excellence, something where all African nations can benefit from that. So Valerie, what are your thoughts on the questions from the audience?

Vallarie Wendy Yiega:
Thank you so much. And yes, just to agree with Binod, Africa actually is moving into a space where we’re looking to see how we can use AI to move the continent forward. Again, just for the background, Africa is the continent that has the most number of young people. It is quite a youthful population, so definitely it’s looking into that. And we’ve also just seen what’s happening with the AI labs in Ghana as well. There’s a lot of work going around that. There’s also a lot of work being spearheaded by the African Union in terms of artificial intelligence, especially in Africa. And I like the question that one of the audience talked about in terms of re-skilling and scaling and how we can move it from being intangible to tangible. Unfortunately, we cannot skip on time and we cannot skip on resources. However, we do need to put in the time and the resources to ensure that we get us there. I’ll give an example. Recently in Kenya, our government has launched what we’re calling a housing levy tax. So this levy essentially should be able to assist the government to ensure there’s affordable housing for low-income earners. And though we are complaining about the tax, we are paying. So you find that you can’t skip on time when it comes to scaling and re-skilling of the workforce, and you also can’t skip on the patience that is required to ensure there’s that mindset shift to ensure that our educators are able to get to a point where they’re skilled enough to have this educator capacity and see more resources to move into the sector that streamlines the whole education sector to ensure that this is being done. Because at the end of the day, we are moving into a time where technology is moving very fast. If you’re not skilled or re-skilled in the technology space, in order to provide this value to the learners, the students, or the workforce, then over time you find yourself being redundant or not relevant to the workforce or to the education service that you provide. Yeah, I like the question on that Luke asked about the issue of using artificial intelligence and generative AI tools, whether that can be used at an education level. I’m a tech lawyer, so I’m very pro-technology, I’m very pro- innovation, I’m very pro the use of tools that can be able to have positive impact. But also, understanding and recognizing that these tools can also work to the detriment of the learners, in terms of we’ve had a lot of stories about cheating, a lot of plagiarism, but I think now we also need a mindset shift and an educational shift as to how tests are being done as well. Because we’re no longer going to look at content, because you could easily just put in a question in chat and it will give you an answer, and you could easily go with that answer. But also as educators, we now need a change as to how this will be done, because at the end of the day, AI is here with us, and it’s here to stay, and it’s here to create even more innovation as the days go by. So then, how can we change that to ensure that even as we test learners, you’re able to pick out critical analysis from a plain regurgitation of facts? Because the thing is, these tools are also for good, in that even if you were to ask AI to assist you to draft an email to your boss, you can already see that there’s some value being created from that email, but that does not replace the human effect. It does not replace the need for a person to apply themselves and to give context to whatever the generative AI tool is going to bring out. So definitely, a lot will be done in terms of critical analysis, especially for best practice when working with generative AI tools, but the truth is, they’re here to stay, and the best way forward would be to understand how to use them for good, how to use them in line with the ethical and responsible guidelines that are being formed around artificial intelligence, and ensuring there’s monitoring, there’s transparency and accountability when it comes to developers of artificial intelligence as well. Thank you.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you, Valerie. Also, about the question for Luke regarding ethics on AI, I think Umut is one of the experts on that, so Umut, your wise words, please.

Umut Pajaro Velasquez:
Okay. Well, the use of AI in education is something that is really close to me, because AI is one of the things that I work the most. And when it comes to education, I think mostly the youth already know how to use this tool for good, because they already know the limits when it comes to the use of this technology, for example, to complete different tasks in an education system. The problem here is they are not fully aware of the ethical implications or the legal implications of using these technologies in certain contexts. So, we need also to teach that kind of things, so they can use it for good and improve their productivity or the work that they’ve been doing. And also, another thing that we should focus here is to change some capacities, some more human capacities as critical thinking, because as I said before, that will be essential in this context of artificial intelligence, especially in education. We need to understand that the future professionals or the future of the labor force or the youth that is using these technological tools need to understand how they work, how they can use it for good, and also how they can use it to solve bills, not only use it because they want to get an answer fast or something like that. It’s just to use it to build from it.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you so much. So, moving on to the last part of our session, and if there is anything from the audience that you want to add, please do. So, if there’s anything, please. I think you’re ready for some questions here.

Audience:
So, hello. My name is Ivy, and I’m representing the Chinese YMCA of Hong Kong, and this discussion has been really informative and insightful, and it’s mostly talked about how governments can put out policies. So, I would like to ask, is there anything as individuals or as youth like myself, what we can do to also help with digital literacy?

Ashirwa Chibatty:
You would like to take the question.

Umut Pajaro Velasquez:
involved in the movement inside intergovernance, one of the many things that we came to conclusion during the years is that we shouldn’t be afraid to use our voice to say what we wanted to say in terms of what kind of technologies we want to have, and we know that some governments probably are not so open and not seeking to hear their voices, their young voices, but we when we have the space, which should address all the issues that we actually consider that should be addressed inside of those spaces. We have right now here, for example, the Internet Governance Ecosystem that actually opened the doors to many people from around the world to say exactly what they wanted to say about the Internet they want. So that is an opportunity that we shouldn’t take for granted and we shouldn’t appreciate and talk about exactly what we want. Another aspect that I like to report in this being on your participation and your incident into policy is try to find those places in your countries because there are spaces in your country, even the more closed ones. There are spaces where you can do incidents and you can participate in the construction of the policies that are being developed in your country. And I would say, don’t be afraid to share what your knowledge or what you’ve seen because probably it’s important to build those policies.

Binod Basnath:
Yes, I think that was very right, as Umut said. As youth, I also think you are a very valuable part of the country and you coming here in IGF in itself is already a good start. So you could, as a youth, you could join in into more events, more IGF forums, regional forums, your country-wide forums, and you could do advocacy for your government on those areas which you feel that need to be changed. And you can take the competency you have back to your home, back to your community, and you can also empower and invite more youths to join in. That way, I think we could synergize and have more empowering youths with digital competency and literacy. Thank you.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Valerie, you are the youth ambassador. You’ve done a lot since you were younger, so please, enlighten us.

Vallarie Wendy Yiega:
Thank you, yes. That’s a question that’s very close to my heart. Again, I coordinate the Kenya Youth IGF, so I understand your question and where you’re coming from. And just like Binod said, I think it’s very important that you’re in this forum right now. That really shows that you’re on the steps to understanding what happens in the internet governance ecosystem. But what I’d say is that there’s a lot of self-education when it comes to this space. So there’s a lot of you trying to actively learn how to engage in this space. And I know the Internet Society has excellent courses that it offers online on how you can engage. And I also know that you’re able to join the relevant youth organizations that you have. I know here in Asia, you have an organization that covers around the Asia region quite well. It’s something that Jenna’s team does. I forget the name, but I’ll get you the name soon after this meeting. But in that organization, you’ll find a lot of young people across the Asia region. And I’ve found that they are very powerful in that there’s a lot of digital literacy that happens within that organization. There’s a lot of advocacy as well. There’s a lot of community building that happens within that organization as well because I’ve seen, I’ve been following the organization for quite a number of years. And I know they’re very forward thinking when it comes to equipping young people with the skills to navigate the internet space and to navigate it effectively. Also just one thing that has also helped me being in this space, having been in this space for about five years now is understanding the specific challenges and opportunities that you have from your own home country. Because yes, we do have a lot of best practices in place, but what also helps is once you understand your context and you’re very clear on what you’re trying to achieve and what change stroke impact that you want to achieve as well. So especially here where they already set organizations, my two cents would be to join those organizations and be able to speak to them. I know the team from Asia Pacific within this Internet Governance Forum, I’ve seen the entire team last night. I think they can also help you to navigate this as well. I think also Ananda can help you navigate this space. He’s just laughing there, but he’s also part of the youth IGF team. So I think he could also be a good start as to how you’re able to navigate this space and with the right persistence and when you keep keeping on in this space, you’ll be able to see that your understanding of digital literacy and your understanding of internet governance will keep growing over the years. Yeah, thank you.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Yeah, I think the generous team you’re talking about is the Net Mission Academy? Yes, so there’s this Net Mission Academy. I think it’s based in Hong Kong, supported by .asia. So yeah, you can connect to Jenna or Jennifer for that. And if you want, I think you know them. If you don’t know, I can help you connect with them as well. So do not hesitate to do that. I would very much love to speak more and love to hear from you, but we’re nearly in the end of time. We just have last 15 minutes. So before we kind of wrap up, let me also take this opportunity to thank Ananda, who is here helping us take the notes and keep all the things in place so that this discussion and conversation can continue. And also, as he’s in Nepal Youth IGF, very active in this space, I hand it over to Ananda to just tell what you’ve noted.

Ananda:
Thank you so much. Thank you so much for keeping me here. So hello, everyone. It was a nice, insightful discussion today. And like we are discussing about a very important issue. And while today we went through different case studies from Asia to Africa to Latin America, and like what we have witnessed with the, we talk about industry 4.0, a massive development in AI, machine learning, and those are the hot topics of the whole IGF itself. But what we have to also understand that is there’s a big digital gap. There are still people who are unconnected from the internet, who doesn’t have access to the internet because of different barriers. It might be affordability, it might be accessibility. So today we have discussed many things, but in the age of industry 4.0, how do we actually blend technology with education and actually providing these kind of skills to students so that they are ready, industry ready when they are graduating is the most challenging issue of today. And then like we also talked about the re-skilling of educators, contextualization of technology in local context, which is very important, but as I think Valerie mentioned about the universal service fund, there are those kind of service funds which are allocated for developing technology. In case of Nepal, there is a Rural Technology Development Fund which can be used and which shall be used to actually make internet more affordable, inclusive, and secure. And there is a role of, we talk about multi-stakeholder engagement in IGF. So there’s a role of everybody in this process. Government make policies and civil society need to support them with the monitoring and the accountability part and private sector will be supporting. And then we can actually build the ecosystem which creates the students that are ready for the industry that can land the global job landscape. So, and I think Umut also mentioned about the community networks. So if you guys are not aware about community networks, community networks are actually the networks that are owned and managed by community themselves where there is no connectivity. People, last mile connectivity cannot reach at some point and people accessing various funds, they can build their own community network using affordable technologies. I think Africa has so much of example on that and then like ISOC and APC kind of organization are working hard to actually build a community network across the world. In Nepal, there was few, but I think they are not much active these days. But like we have to work on those things so that the people who doesn’t have affordable devices or who doesn’t have access to internet and not any device that could actually connect to the internet. So for those people, we can create community learning centers where they can go learn these things. And we have also talked about some open courseware where content can be accessed online and offline. Khan Academy is one of such examples and I think there are many more. There’s a repo built by Rachel. Rachel Foundation is working on open courseware system where you can find trillions of gigs of information which can be used in rural technologies where there’s no access to internet. It is a local server based content management system. Maybe some community networks has already used that as well. So, tipping up my point, while policies are way behind in case of like developing nations, we have a huge responsibility and Valerie was asking me to share about how youth can contribute on that. So like what I always tell about youth is we are the biggest stakeholder of the internet today. And then with this role comes a bigger responsibility. How do we actually make this internet more inclusive? How do we help people to actually connecting the people that are not connected today? And then how do we create ecosystem that allows everyone to access the content in the internet? So, and the initiatives like civil society, initiatives like internet society, IGF itself, national IGF, regional IGF, and local IGF should actually work hard so that we can actually eliminate these things. So I’ll wrap up my things over here. Thank you so much for being here. I’ll give it back to Asif. Thank you.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you so much, Ananda. So this is the last call for any interaction from the floor. If there’s any solutions available, if there’s anything. I’ll take it in there.

Audience:
Hi, good morning. I’m Dean Dell from the Philippines. I would just like to ask some initiatives that you’re presently, if any of you are doing right now. For example, in the Philippines, we have more than 7,000 islands. And most of these islands are in remote locations and still doesn’t have any internet connection and even utilities. Okay, I would just like to ask, apart from just what you have said a while ago, any existing initiative or tools that you can recommend that would answer those underserved schools who that soon they will still be able to maximize the use or the advantage of AI and other digital technologies and contents. So that’s it.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you. Anybody would like to take it? And please know that we have a very limited time now. So please make it short.

Binod Basnath:
I’ll try to be as quick as possible. Thank you for the question. During 2017, we did a pilot project with movable and deployable ICT resource unit. It was a network for the community for places where there were no internet connectivity. This device would create an internal networking system for the whole community. And it would be a community owned network. And with those network, people could share information through voice calls, through video calls, through message system, sharing of photos. But we used it for education. And it was very effective. And we reported that to entity, which was further reported to ITUD. One of the study groups has published the effectiveness of how community led network and devices can be effective in places where there are no internet facilities. And taking this one step forward, we are trying to pilot with locally accessible cloud system, LAC system, that I think has been implemented in Philippines as well. I think you’ve been using it mostly for disaster, but we want it to be used for education and health sector for marginalized and backward communities of Nepal. Thank you.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you, Vinod.

Ananda:
So talking about, I think Vinodji has covered a lot. So actually, when it comes to open source repositories, there are many. Like Rachel is one of the, I think I have found the most, R-A-C-H-E-L is its spelling. And then like in Rachel, you get Khan Academy integrated over there. And there are a lot of like open source learning resources, which are updated periodically, which can be downloaded on any computer. You can make a local server and then like broadcast it to the network that can be accessible without internet as well. It is not internet based. And when you have connection, you can update the content. And there is another initiative called Colibri. And Colibri is also integrated in Rachel as well, but Colibri is more actually on like user end. You have a content, you downloaded it, and then you can actually transfer it to another person’s phone without internet access. That is the power of Colibri. It’s like it uses peer-to-peer networking technology. So if I have that repo, I think what content I have here, I can transfer it to another person without internet. And then like that is they are doing. And Colibri is integrated with Rachel as well. And inside Rachel, you can find Khan Academy, every content you have ever imagined, and it is updated regularly. So I think if you want more resources, maybe we can discuss or like set up a call, and then we can talk about it. I think Valerie knows more about it as well, because many community networks share the same principle. I deployed one back in COVID, and I said, well, then myself are trying to upgrade that. It is not operational right now, but we are planning to upgrade that. We have gone through feasibility study, and we are looking for funds. So like those kind of technology are there. We can discuss more because of the time limit. There’s like red sign coming up. So I think we should wrap up, but we can discuss it offline as well. Thank you so much for being here.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
So we have last five minutes, as this gentleman showed me. So I give our speakers one minute for the closing remarks, and shorter is better. So we’ll start with Umut online,

Umut Pajaro Velasquez:
Valerie, then Binod before I close. Okay, well, that will be, I will be to remind that digital education and digital literacy are in development right now, and in constant changing right now, because technology is constantly changing, and society is constantly in constant change. So we need to aware that the future of education is a work that is done day by day, especially in spaces in the global south, where all societies still need access, still need equipment, and still need infrastructure. That will be it.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
Thank you, Valerie.

Vallarie Wendy Yiega:
Thank you so much. I think for me, my mantra has always been, each one teach one. That means that just like the member of the audience had said earlier, it’s up to us to ensure that we carry together into the future, this generation of digitally skilled learners as well. So what that means is that, how can we contribute? Is it through policymaking? Is it through building innovative solutions? Is it through putting our voices towards ensuring that we have a future ready digital skilled education system? So for me, it’s always paying it forward and rolling out the information that is required by the stakeholders on the ground. Thank you.

Binod Basnath:
So my last words, I’d like to urge the policymakers, actually, for the Asian countries, especially the South Asian countries. We all had our ICT in education master plan one, and I think most of the countries have completed that, and we’re moving towards the second master plan. But I don’t think there’s much awareness about ICT in education master plan amongst most of the stakeholders. We don’t even know what the master plan is and what we’re trying to achieve. So I think post-COVID, we have learned that ICT way of learning can be more inclusive and accessible if it’s implemented correctly. So I think we need to raise more awareness. We need to map our resources. We need to have realistic plans and not just have plans for the sake of having a plan. And I think post-COVID, ICT master plan two will be a very effective tool for us to reach education 2030 goals. Thank you very much.

Ashirwa Chibatty:
So thank you, Binod, Valerie, Ananda, and Umut for your insights and sharing your expertise. So when we talk about internet or any technology, it’s free from prejudice or harm or anything. But how we go in it decides what is used. That’s why the multistakeholder model is very much important. And that being said, I’d like to go back to the human aspect of technology. How do we get additional resilience in digital education? There are technical aspects, but yeah, we have to be inclusive from design. We have to accept diversity and practice empathy. We have to share each other’s experience. We don’t duplicate things. We have to learn from each other and we have to work as a community for the better shared future. So let’s think about our children and their children’s children when we make any kind of decision. Thank you so much, everyone. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my SIG leadership team, Shraddha, Samuel, Maxwell, and everybody who is not here, but they have been supporting us for our past two years. So thank you, everybody. And please do join our Internet Society’s special interest group on education. There’s a QR code. If you can scan it, you can join us to connect and let’s move towards a global internet that ensures inclusive, equitable, and quality education, promoting lifelong learning for all. Thank you so much, everyone, for your presence and also the ones that are online. Suara and I see you there. So thank you so much for being there online. Thank you, everyone. Close the session.

Audience:
So I think I’ve had a good photo, yeah. Photo’s always good. So those who are present until last, if we could just take a photo for our memory, that would be great. We could do it right outside the hall because there might be next session here.