Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah at the event on Sept 27, 2022. - BB
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Borneo Bulletin/Asia News Network): Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, in a decree during the 32nd Teacher’s Day celebration on Tuesday (Sept 27), reminded the need for the nation to be prepared to face any crisis by building a more sustainable system as a crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic may happen again.
The Sultan said it is timely for the Ministry of Education (MoE) to draft a policy and strategic plan to achieve Brunei Vision 2035’s objectives.
He noted that this year’s celebration theme, ‘Quality Teachers Driving Educational Transformation’, is relevant particularly amid current global changes especially due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The monarch said the world is facing challenging times impacting the education system. He added that the sultanate should be grateful that education has continued despite obstacles and constraints, which the monarch attributed to teachers who were determined to make it possible.
Brunei Darussalam is taking note that the World Bank estimated that almost 1.6 billion children worldwide were affected by school closures during multiple waves of the pandemic in the past two years, the sultan said.
"In the first wave, the average learning loss for students was more than half a year with 15 weeks of school closures. Without intervention, the learning loss will bring about long-term negative impact of student productivity and well-being.”
The monarch expressed hope that the MoE and Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) will continue to reduce learning loss with appropriate programmes, and review the effect and impact of educational inequality as well as learning loss among students.
