Scaling sustainable edtech innovations in South and Southeast Asia

Education technology, or “edtech,” has seen surging enthusiasm as a means of improving learning outcomes, increasing efficiency, and addressing persistent learning poverty across the globe. Spurred by tech companies’ savvy marketing, governments have increasingly looked to scaling EdTech innovations as a pathway to systemic education transformation. Yet the decisions driving that scaling process are rarely as strategic or evidence-based as they need to be.   

On July 8, the Center for Universal Education at Brookings will launch a new report, “From access to impact: Government decisionmaking and scaling of edtech in South and Southeast Asia.” The report finds that across South and Southeast Asia, government decisions about edtech are driven more by political signaling, donor pressure, and short-term feasibility than by evidence or long-term sustainability. The result is edtech ecosystems that are disjointed, insufficiently aligned with learning goals, and at risk of exacerbating the very inequities they aim to address. The event will open with a presentation of the report’s key findings, followed by a conversation on the challenges of scaling innovation to the most marginalized learners and exploring what governments, donors, and tech providers can do differently to better leverage technology for education transformation. 

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