The global spread of COVID-19 in early 2020 forced changes to established back-to-school schedules and learning plans for the school year in many countries and regions. As a result of the outbreak, the entire education ecosystem has changed. In this context, in China, one of the developing countries with a large rural population, the impact of the change in the educational ecology in rural areas on all parties involved, the way that different groups responded to the change in the educational environment, and their thoughts about the large-scale online education forced by the pandemic have attracted the attention of INRULED.

The meeting aims to share China’s experience and contribute China’s wisdom at the international level through interviews and exchanges between experts and participants, and summarize and form experiences that can be universally applied and disseminated to all UNESCO member countries, especially those in developing countries.

The meeting took the form of online discussions, and all participants participated in interviews and discussions through Tencent Conference. The participants were divided into 6 groups: Education Bureau Group, Principals Group, Teachers Group, Parents Group, Primary School Students Group and Secondary School Students Group, and experts from the Education Department of Beijing Normal University were responsible for the interviews of each group. The content and format of the interviews were developed by  experts of each group.