The 4th Southeast Asian Conference on Education (SEACE2024) held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, focused its discussions around how to achieve a peaceful and harmonious coexistence within a society that is becoming increasingly diverse and polarised. While there are many facets to this global issue, one case where we can observe the recent rise in violence, marginalisation, and exclusion is an arena that may very well become this issue's remedy - Education.
From hidden school violence to cultural bias, structural and political exclusion, and vulnerability in the face of natural disasters, all keynote speakers and panel presenters highlighted how these issues can be attributed to educational deficiencies—whether agency-wise, structural, cultural, or political in nature—but at the same time, how education itself can change human behaviour and agency, increase resilience, enhance social cohesion, reduce political polarisation, foster sustainability, and abolish cultural bias.
