Outline

　The world has been disrupted by and battling the unprecedented crisis brought by the COVID-19 pandemic for a year already. Vaccines have been developed and the vaccination process has begun, but there is still no saying when life will be able to return to normal. The impact has affected both developed and developing economies, and the consequences for education have been severe. Some 190 countries around the world have implemented school closures, affecting 1.5 billion children and young adults (UN report of April, 2020). Under these circumstances, the need in education for not only radio and TV broadcasts but also various ICT services that use the internet and digital devices has never been more apparent. Even in developed economies, however, the application of ICT has produced new educational divides, and many developing economies lack both the devices and the sufficient internet environment. The result has been a period of severe educational challenges for many countries and regions. These challenges have come, moreover, in addition to various prior disruptions already afflicting large numbers of countries in the developing world, from refugee issues produced by wars and civil unrest to various endemic diseases. The additional impact of COVID-19 threatens many people’s way of life.

This symposium will cast a broad spotlight on how both developed and developing economies and also, for example, the Syrian refugees in Turkey, have been impacted by the pandemic, examining and discussing present issues, problems that need to be overcome, and also new ways and solutions for implementation in the future, on the basis of reports from researchers and other specialists. Two core issues have been selected to guide the discussions.

1. High Quality Education for Sustainable Development
   
   The UNHCR estimates there are at least 70 million refugees worldwide. About half of these are thought to be under the age of eighteen. These children are at high risk of reaching adulthood without ever having received a fitting education. The sustainable development goals (SDG’s) adopted at the UN summit meeting in 2015 included the aim of bringing quality education to all. Educational broadcasting and ICT content is expected to perform key roles in achieving this goal, especially in the teaching of basic knowledge and skills in such fields as science and numeracy.


2. Making Active Use of Broadcasting and ICT in Education
   
   In today’s Internet era, the use of not only broadcasting but also smartphones, tablets and other digital, ICT media to deliver educational content has spread in developed and developing countries alike in recent years. Various experiments in distance learning and other teaching techniques have been tried with the goals of providing true equality of educational opportunity and educational reform. With the coronavirus pandemic now posing new challenges for educational institutions, what possibilities does education using the various media possess?