This report by UNICEF provides a snapshot of adolescent girls’ digital literacy across the East Asia and Pacific region, in the period of 2020-2024, with a special focus on Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam.

According to the authors “Digital literacy is critical to participation in today’s world and by the year 2030, up to 80 per cent of jobs in Southeast Asia will require basic digital literacy and applied information and communication technology (ICT) skills. In 2022, an estimated 73 per cent of youth aged 15–24 years in the Asia Pacific region used the internet, but use and digital competences vary by gender across the region.” The full report (in English) can be downloaded.

In the report, the “Extended Reality in Education” project, funded by UNICEF Vietnam and implemented by The Center for Consultancy on Family Health and Community Development (CFC Vietnam) in 2020-2021 is analyzed as a showcase of how a fun and interactive digital learning solution that encouraged students, particularly girls, to engage with STEM can be developed and put to use. Thanks to this project, “138 preschool, primary and lower secondary schools in disadvantaged provinces of Vietnam were provided with augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR- combined, extended reality, or XR) technology, including tablets and phone-mounted glasses, so that children could collaborate in small groups (five to six children) on STEM-related subjects. A key focus was to empower teachers in rural areas, and female ethnic minority students in STEM learning. This solution has the potential to provide schools with a cost-effective alternative to physical labs, while building teachers’ and students’ capacity to use technology and engage with STEM.”

OMT was privileged to be the technology partner in the “Extended Reality in Education” project. As this project phased over at the end of 2021, CFC and OMT build on the proven model of the project to continue engaging teachers, lecturers from the Education University under Vietnam National University (VNU), Vietnam National College for Education, the Olympia Schools, Ta Quang Buu High School, among others, to create Vietnam-specific lessons using Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) elements for enriched learning experiences, for their own classes and for sharing with the broader Vietnamese teacher community.

In 2023, OMT works with XR partner Viettel High Tech using the EducationXR platform to support the KidsEdu team to integrate Augmented Reality in preschool STEM curriculum. With KidsEdu curriculum, kindergarten learning activities using AR-enabled coloring books allow children to explore scientific concepts, engage in hands-on experiments, and embark on exciting learning adventures – all while expressing their creativity through coloring.