Day: May 10, 2022

Since 2015, the Australian Government, through the BEQUAL programme, has been supporting national primary curriculum reform led by the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Lao PDR (MoES).

As part of the programme, grants are provided to target districts to support increased and improved in-semester teacher support activities.

Women in district education offices in Laos often face a number of barriers to achievement, including entrenched gender roles and norms and hidden gender discrimination in promotion practices.

Through training and capacity building activities for relevant district staff who are responsible for managing and implementing grant activities, Australia and MoES actively promote the equal participation of women in BEQUAL district-level teacher support activities and grant management.

Ms Sysai Panyachack has been working in Samuay District Education and Sports Office, Saravan Province, since 2014 and was promoted to Pedagogical Adviser (PA) in 2020.

She is the first female PA in Samuay District and there are four other male PAs in the team. Since becoming a PA her involvement in BEQUAL-supported activities has enabled her to rapidly improve her skills and capacity, and she has become a very well-respected PA and part of the district team.

Sysai was the only PA from her district to be selected as a Provincial Trainer (PT) in 2021 for the Grade 3 primary curriculum training. In the same year she was allocated responsibility for the management of the BEQUAL district grant in her district.

She is the team leader for this activity, overseeing six staff (four male) and is responsible for the preparation of plans and budgets, as well as acquittal and reporting. She is also responsible for coordination of online data collection and reporting using KoBo. In this role she has participated in a number of BEQUAL supported workshops and has demonstrated a strong technical and organizational capacity, confidence and desire to learn.

The quality of the BEQUAL grant administration and implementation in 2021-22 has increased markedly due to Sysai’s management.

Since becoming a PA and taking on BEQUAL programme responsibilities, Sysai has been able to rapidly grow and develop her skills and confidence. Other PAs in her team, who have been in the role longer than her, report that they ask her for support and input regularly and find her knowledge and skills invaluable for their work and team. The district leadership has also acknowledged her strong capacity and commitment to providing well planned, quality teacher pedagogical support and training. They acknowledge her key role in ensuring that Samuay district performance in BEQUAL grant management has improved markedly from previous years. All staff at the district have developed a deep respect for Sysai’s contributions, both for her commitment to quality teacher support and for her continued desire to improve and learn in all areas. The Salavan Teacher Training College has also recently identified Sysai as the best performing PA in her district.

Sysai says “I feel comfortable working in the PA Centre with the team and they respect my contributions and effort. In the future I would like to undertake further study to upgrade my pedagogical knowledge to support teachers better.”

May the story of Sysai inspire more women and men to be active advocate of gender equality and opportunities for women in implementation of programme activities.

Source: Lao News Agency

Elon Musk on Tuesday said he would reinstate former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account.

The Tesla CEO who’s vying to buy Twitter and take it private for a reported price tag of $44 billion made the comment at the Financial Times Future of the Car conference.

“I do think that it was not correct to ban Donald Trump,” Musk said. “I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of the country and did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice.”

Musk added that Trump’s ban was “morally wrong and flat-out stupid.”

Trump’s account was permanently banned after the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, with Twitter saying his continued presence on the platform was a “risk of further incitement of violence.”

Musk added that permanent bans should be “extremely rare” and reserved for “bots, or spam/scam accounts.”

“Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated,” he said in a recent statement.

Trump has said he does not intend to rejoin Twitter and will focus mostly on the social network he launched called Truth Social.

Source: Voice of America

Following China’s announcement that it would tighten restrictions in Shanghai to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the head of the World Health Organization on Tuesday said the country’s zero-tolerance policy is not sustainable.

Speaking at a media briefing Tuesday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted the behavior of the disease caused by the coronavirus and what experts “anticipate in the future.” He added, “We have discussed this issue with Chinese experts… I think a shift would be very important.”

Authorities in Shanghai have tightened restrictions on its 26 million residents, despite a steady decline in new COVID-19 infections.

Residents in some neighborhoods have been informed in writing that they are not allowed to leave their homes or receive deliveries as part of a “quiet period” that would last for at least three days. The new restrictions caught residents by surprise, coming after a brief period of being allowed to move about their neighborhoods.

There have also been accounts posted on Chinese social media sites of residents being forcibly removed from their homes and placed in hotels or quarantine facilities if their neighbors tested positive for the coronavirus, as well as anecdotes of cleanup crews in full protective suits entering apartments to disinfect them.

A Shanghai city official confirmed the move in an interview with The Associated Press, saying the homes of people in older communities with shared bathrooms and kitchens will be disinfected.

The actions prompted open letters posted on social media Sunday by Tong Zhiwei, law professor at Shanghai’s East China University of Political Science and Law, and Liu Dali, a corporate lawyer in Shanghai, to question the legality of such practices.

Nearly all of Shanghai’s residents have been under strict orders for the past six weeks as officials in the Chinese financial hub struggle to contain a mass outbreak of new COVID-19 cases largely driven by a highly contagious omicron variant. The lockdown has led to angry complaints of a lack of fresh food and medicine throughout China’s biggest city.

Officials reported about 3,000 new cases Monday, far below a peak of 26,000 posted in mid-April.

Elsewhere in China, Beijing further tightened COVID-19 curbs on residents Monday with more mass testing and road closures as the country continues with its uncompromising battle with the virus.

Residents of the city’s worst-hit areas were told to work from home while more roads, compounds and parks were sealed off as the capital of 22 million grappled with its worst outbreak since 2020.

China has doubled down on its strict “zero-COVID” policy even as it severely disrupts everyday life and brings economic activity to a halt.

Source: Voice of America