The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruptions to education around the globe. The necessity of social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has forced many educational establishments to close and adopt online and distance education. It has been argued that technology-assisted distance education, has had various benefits, including the increase in teaching efficiency, flexibility in time and place, and expansion in education accessibility. On the other hand, the forced adoption has also posed a wide range of challenges and obstacles. For instance, students have different levels of computer literacy, most of whom are still at a basic level. This has made online learning extremely difficult as they have had to navigate and self-administer their own learning online. Lack of infrastructure such as internet connections and access to technology are other challenges presented in digital education with COVID-19 highlighting even further the digital divide between urban and rural communities.

As a part of its “Thnal Udom Chomnes: Promoting Cambodian Higher Education Innovation” funded by the Australian Government through The Asia Foundation's Ponlok Chomnes: Data and Dialogue for Development in Cambodia, Cambodia Development Resource Institute (CDRI) in collaboration with Kirirom Institute of Technology (KIT) is organizing the Conference of Comparative Education Society of Cambodia (CESCam) on 14-15 October 2021 under the theme: “Envisioning Education 2030: New Models of Education”.

For more information, please visit the CESCam website at http://www.ces-cam.org/