Asst. Prof. Gina M. Lontoc, PhD and Asst. Prof. Katrina Ninfa M. Topacio of the Department of English received the Seedcorn Grant from the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE), to look into the Philippine experience of COVID-19 and its impact on adult learning and education.
The study aims to “explore the (potential) effects of the pandemic to adult learning and education programs by drawing from reflections from contrasting contexts of the three countries,” namely, the Philippines, Afghanistan, and the United Kingdom. According to Lontoc, “findings from this research will form part of a policy brief which contains recommendations to the governments concerned on the means by which governments and non-state actors could be able to take into consideration the needs of adult learners as COVID-19 continues to rampage.”
This project will be managed by the British Association for Literacy in Development (BALID) and will be led by Dr. Ian Cheffy from Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL) and BALID, in collaboration with UEA UNESCO Chair team.
The grant is given to the newly formed Transformare: A Network of Adult Literacy and Lifelong Learning Advocates. Lontoc and Topacio are the President and Secretary of Transformare, respectively. The network was launched on November 21, 2019 during the 1st Gender, Adult Literacy, and Active Citizenship for Social Transformation (GALACST) International Conference in UST.
Lontoc and Topacio are researchers of the Research Center for Social Sciences and Education.
