CamEd Open Access Repository

Hak Kimlong
CamEd Buisness School, Cambodia

International Research Symposium
2021, pp. 167 – 180

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62458/CamEd/OAR/Symposium/2021/167-180

INTRODUCTION

The spread of the novel Coronavirus or COVID-19 has severely disrupted international peace and security and posed a serious concern to the global politics and socio-economic aspects. Escalated in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019, the New Coronavirus has been officially declared as a Pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 2020, during which 118,000 cases were confirmed (Ducharme, 2020). The Outbreak of COVID-19 has been widespread globally, now affecting more than 200 countries, and roughly 52 million confirmed cases with approximately 1.2 million death tolls (Worldometer, 2020). The impacts of the global pandemic have become a turning point of global health security, which will put a larger strain to the recession of many sectors, one of which is the educational sector. Coherent and cooperative responses from all relevant stakeholders from sub-nationals to the international level are essential to jointly combat the virus and seek preventive measures to resist a global crisis. Education has become one of the sectors which has been affected by the global pandemic as most of the infected nations including Cambodia are forced to impose lockdowns and restrictions on all institutions, entertainment venues and workplaces. Schools and educational institutions are too being suspended. There was no exemption for the educational sector when it came to the outbreak of COVID-19. The closure of all educational institutions amid the global pandemic had unprecedentedly shifted the learning behaviors of students in all levels from primary to higher education. In March 2020, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) of Cambodia announced the nationwide closure of all private and public schools and universities (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO], 2020). Particularly in developing countries like Cambodia, the suspension of physical classes largely contributed a number of impacts on education during the pandemic period as there is a wide social gap and inequality in terms of social welfare for higher education, affecting millions of youth who were pursuing academic degrees (Flynn & Himel, 2020). Consequently,

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