WINNER: AEON ENGLISH SPEECH CONTEST 2020, Ms.Aminta Permpoonwiwat, (October 2020)

Ms.Aminta Permpoonwiwat, grade 10, Patumwan Demonstration School
✅Topic: What we can propose experiencing Covid-19 related confusion in terms of education.
💥Because of COVID-19, I’ve seen an explosion of inequality.
Because of COVID-19, I’ve witnessed the lack of social protection around the world.
Because of COVID-19, I’ve experienced a disruption in my education.
This has been the lar
gest disruption in education for centuries, the consequences are that more than 1 billion students are at risk of falling behind. This is alarming because education is not only a fundamental human right, but also an enabling right. Education is the foundation for other human rights because giving people opportunities in learning is much more valuable than giving them money or food. It is the tool that people can use to improve their own living standards and have equal opportunities to succeed in our society.
But during these unprecedented times, there has been a whirlwind of chaos
with many setbacks to the progress of our educational systesm due to the response to the coronavirus crisis. Research shows that online learning is effective only if students have consistent access to the internet and computers and if teachers have received targeted training and support for online instruction. But in Thailand, only 21 percent of households have computers. The pandemic has worsened one of the most critical opportunity gaps, the digital divide. This has made it virtually impossible for some students to learn during the pandemic. It has also challenged the limitations of standardized tests, which reward a narrow set of skills and more affluent students who have access to specialized instruction.
Ladies and gentlemen, there’s an urgent need to solve this problem in a resilient way.
John F. Kennedy once said, “When written in Chinese, the word ‘Crisis’ is composed of two characters--one represents danger and one represents opportunity.” Although this has been a great setback, it is not an excuse for us to turn away from our commitment to education. We have committed to it, thus we must act on it and see it through. The question now is what we will do moving forward, and how we will use these lessons learned to improve our ways in the future to become stronger. Therefore, I would like to propose 3 key takeaways, as a vehicle to guide us to the target which is a CAR, or C-A-R: Change, Advancement, and Rebuilding
Firstly, Change. It’s safe to say that COVID-19 has opened all of our eyes to the challenges in our educational systems. Hence, we have an opportunity for real and meaningful change in order to provide education that will lead to equitable and sustainable development. It is evident that our current system lacks adaptability, so we must put these mistakes behind and build systems with better risk management and leadership. So, we must accept this disruption as a challenge that we have to overcome, not as a difficulty. We must dare to change.
This leads to the second letter, Advancement.
Once people realize that this is an opportunity for ransformation, we will need to invest in education. This includes investing in resources and human capital, to make sure that students are receiving quality education. It should begin with giving schools urgent resources so that they can provide effective remote instruction and support during the pandemic. Then, we can recover by making extra investments to help students and schools make up for lost time, as well as equipping them with the training needed for the developing technology. We need to build up educational standards with qualified teachers who are familiar with technology and the digital space. This will open up many different teaching practices that will allow students to engage on a different level.
Lastly, R, or Rebuilding. This includes rebuilding the system into one that focuses on nurturing a holistic child, balancing cognitive with socioemotional skills development, and ensuring that all children have access to resources that enhance learning and development. I believe that we can create a new platform to open up new methods of teaching and curricula that can allow students to engage on different levels while leaving no one behind.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We are together in this world of turmoil and confusion, but it’s important to recognize that we are all going through these hard times together. If we see the world as one, we must turn this crisis into an opportunity, using our CAR model (Change, Advancement, and Rebuilding) to transform the world for the better, and don’t let the world set us off the path we have started. As a young female youth living in this digital age, I urge us to take into account the importance of education and the disparity around the world, so that we can emerge from this crisis stronger than ever before.
Thank you
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