December 1, 2020 – We welcome the release of the Regional Report of the Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics 2019, or SEA-PLM 2019, implemented in six participating Southeast Asian countries within the months of School Year 2018-2019. The SEA-PLM 2019 was developed to assist countries across Southeast Asia to better measure and understand learning outcomes in Reading, Writing, Mathematics, and Global Citizenship of Grade 5 learners.

Our participation in the first-ever cycle of SEA-PLM signifies our continued commitment to raising the quality of basic education in the country. Its results complement the Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) 2018 findings, which we will integrate into our broader efforts to address curriculum and learning gaps.

Using the insights from these assessments, we will decisively study and evaluate our short, medium, and long-term interventions to further raise the literacy and numeracy skills of our learners while supporting our teachers. We are determined to translate these international assessments into concrete and implementable actions, especially in the classroom where actual learning takes place.

Since the release of the PISA results, we have made progress in our campaign for quality education. Our efforts on curriculum review, teachers’ professional development, and learning environment improvement are continuously moving forward despite the disruptions brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful to our international and local partner organizations which reinforced our Sulong EduKalidad initiative and its four pillars of aggressive reforms (KITE).

Together with our partners, and with a data-driven policy approach, we will carry on and confront the challenges of quality in basic education so that our learners and teachers will have the tools to conquer this brave new world.

 

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