Category: Literacy

Vice-Minister of Education and Sports, Ms Sisouk Vongvichith, and Ambassador of Australia to the Lao PDR, Mr Paul Kelly announced the official launch of the Basic Education Quality and Access in the Lao PDR Program (BEQUAL) Phase 2 on 16 November 2022 in Vientiane.
The Ministry of Education and Sports, with the support of the Australian Government, will shift the focus to teacher professional development during the BEQUAL Phase 2 of BEQUAL, including a key focus on inclusive education. This focus on inclusive education is vital for ensuring that all children, including those experiencing disadvantage, are able to successfully learn and develop during their years of primary education.
“The Lao PDR and Australia share a mutual interest in ensuring all young children, especially those experiencing disadvantage, receive quality primary education,” said Vice-Minister of Education and Sports, Ms Sisouk Vongvichith.
“Since 2015, Australia has been supporting the Ministry of Education and sports, through the Phase 1 of BEQUAL program, with the development and nationwide implementation of the new primary curriculum and the design and implementation of teacher training and professional development activities. The new primary curriculum and improvements in the quality of primary teaching are top priorities of the 9th ESSDP 2021-2025,” she said.
“I would like to thank the other partners who joined the Australian Government to support the Ministry during the Phase 1 of BEQUAL, the European Union and the United States Government,” she added.
“Australia is proud to continue the partnership with the Ministry of Education and Sports for the second phase of the BEQUAL program, to ensure all young Lao children regardless of their circumstances and their gender receive a quality primary education,” said Australia Ambassador Paul Kelly.
“Australia’s support for BEQUAL Phase 2 will amount to AUD 28 million over four years – from 2022 through to 2026. Phase 2 will focus on modernising the national primary curriculum and teacher professional development including building gender and disability-inclusive education,” he explained.
“Australia has committed to supporting the government of Lao PDR to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. We believe that Education changes lives and contributes to stronger communities and greater prosperity,” Ambassador added.

Source: Lao News Agency

With financial support from Plan International Japan, Plan International Laos, and the Ministry of Education and Sports agreed to improve early education for children in Houn District, Oudomxay Province.
A memorandum of understanding concerning the Pre-primary school Education Improvement Project in Houn District was signed on Nov 8, between Mr. Somsack Souphilay, the Director General of the Oudomxay Provincial Education and Sports Services and Ms. Carol Mortensen, the Country Director of Plan International Laos.
Within the project lifespan, Plan International Laos is going to provide four new pre-primary schools with toilets and disabled access, equipped with furniture and learning materials such as blackboards, teacher desks and chairs, student tables and chairs, and bookshelf – based on the Ministry of Education and Sports standard – toys, storybook, supplies and outdoor equipment like metal swings, and sliders.
In addition, the project aims to work with Houn District Education and Sports Bureau to strengthen the capacity of teachers and school principals on child-centered Lao language teaching approaches, gender equality, positive discipline, school management, and COVID-19 prevention for 11 pre-primary schools.
This project replicated the achievement of the previous project, which Plan International Laos and its partners implemented in different target villages of Houn District. Let’s hear some voices from the project participants in Mokhang, one of the previous project target villages, Houn District.
“Insufficient condition of the school building, lack of unattractive teaching and learning materials did not motivate and encourage children to attend the class,” shared Ms. Chompaeng, a 30-year-old teacher. “Making toys and teaching materials myself was challenging because I did not have any chances to participate a training.”
The teacher shared that a change happened after receiving support from Plan International Laos, a school building, teaching and learning materials, and training, for instance. “It is convenient to deliver messages to the children by using adequate learning materials and activities.” She also shared that the parents also obtained parenting training.
“The new preprimary school building is beautiful, and I am so happy to learn in this school. There are interesting and colourful toys and books that my friends and I can share,” said Saengdeuan, a 5-year-old schoolgirl. She mentioned that she didn’t miss any lessons because of the beautiful school and fun activities.
The project is aligned with the government priorities and contributes to effective education development to meet the prerequisites and improve learning outcomes. Outcomes for children will encourage them to be better prepared to enter primary school, increase their chances of success, enable them to continue learning, and reduce the dropout rate.
“Education, including Early Childhood Education, is a priority for the Government of Lao PDR; However, access to Early Childhood Education remains a challenge for many rural and remote areas, especially for the other three non-Lao-Tai groups,” said Ms. Carol Mortensen, the Country Director of Plan International Laos.
“The quality of early childhood education services remains low and directly translates into a limited improvement in learning outcomes, disparities in child development outcomes, and the long-term implications for the country’s future development,” said she
“Girls and boys from ethnic minorities who do not speak Lao at home are disproportionately disadvantaged, especially since Lao is the official language of instruction in primary schools and non-Lao speaking students have a limited understanding of the language. Thus, early education is the game changer in the lives of children,” she added.

Source: Lao News Agency

For the first time since before the COVID-19, a delegation of 37 Lao students and two supervisors are headed to Japan to participate in either “Japan-Laos Environment Exchange” or “Japan-Laos Language and Culture Exchange” under JENESYS 2022 supported by the Government of Japan.
JENESYS or Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths, is the youth-focused people-to-people exchange program between Japan and the Asia- Pacific region. More than 2,100 Lao young people have been to Japan for exchanges since JENESYS’ establishment in 2007. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face exchange programs were suspended. However, several online programs were conducted to continue to encourage awareness of Japan’s economy, society, history, culture, politics, and diplomatic relations abroad.
“Japan-Laos Environment Exchange” and “Japan-Laos Language and Culture Exchange” are set to be held as the first such face-to-face exchanges conducted in Japan since the global pandemic was declared. The Lao participants in the two programs were selected in cooperation with the Faculty of Environmental Sciences of the National University of Laos, and Japanese language institutes in the Lao PDR, respectively.
During their 7-day stay in Japan, participants will also visit historic landmarks and institutions related to the program theme, in addition to experiencing school exchanges and traditional culture. They are set to share and promote their experiences, learnings and insights with wider audiences at home and abroad utilizing social networking services (SNS). While in Japan the Lao students will create and present an Action Plan which is set to be implemented after returning to the Lao PDR.
These exchanges promise a welcome restart of face-to-face interactions between youth under JENESYS’s widely-known and appreciated exchange programs. It is expected that these and future exchanges will continue to promote mutual trust and understanding among the nation’s younger generations to build strong foundations for long-term friendship and cooperation between Japan and the Lao PDR.

Source: Lao News Agency

For the third episode of the Role Model docuseries, the TV, radio and newspaper teams from the Information Media Center (IMC) of the Ministry of Educations and Sports (MoES) travelled to Saravan to interview Mr Phothong Phonsongkham on the importance of teacher professional development support.
Mr Phothong shared his extensive experience in the different aspects of teacher support, from writing training modules to visiting teachers during the school year and giving them advice to solve the challenges they may face in their classrooms as they implement the new curriculum.
“I think the most exciting change in the new curriculum is the new way of teaching and learning,” said Ajan Phothong. “It is more inclusive, and all children have the chance to participate.” Indeed, the revised curriculum introduced in 2019 by MoES with support from Australia through the BEQUAL program, adopts a new pedagogy with a focus on active learning and student-centered methods. It represents a big change in terms of teaching and learning approaches and teachers are at the center of this change. Teachers need ongoing support to embrace this change.
Ajan Phothong is part of both the Master Trainer and Provincial Trainer teams delivering orientation training on the new curriculum, as well as follow-up monitoring and support throughout the school year. “The training as well as the support during the school year is very important to ensure good teaching, and ultimately good learning outcomes for the students”, explained Ajan Phothong. “It is the role of pedagogical advisers to support teachers with the new techniques, and help them solve the problems they face in a timely manner.
Pedagogical advisers, who are also Master and Provincial Trainers, are encouraged to conduct at least two visits per semester in the schools that are not performing well. MoES, with support from Australia, has developed several tools that pedagogical advisers can use while providing ongoing support to teachers as they navigate the curriculum throughout the school year. “The tools I use the most during my visits are classroom observation, co-lesson planning and teaching”, said Ajan Phothong. “The classroom observation tools help identify the areas where more support is needed. When I can spot the problems, I can help the teacher solve them. Then, I can support the teacher to plan their lesson and bring ideas on how to implement learning activities in the classroom effectively.”
“WhatsApp groups are very good for follow-up after a school visit and for the schools that are very remote and difficult to access frequently”, added Ajan Phothong. “The teachers can send their questions to the group, and I can give my advice or recommend watching one of the teacher development videos.”
Ajan Phothong is also part of the in-service Continuing Professional Development material writers’ team established in December 2020. He participates in the development of the Teacher Support Pack (TSP) modules. “We have produced eight modules so far” explained Ajan Phothong. “The TSP is being used by pedagogical support providers, especially Provincial Trainers. when they visit teachers”. The TSP is made up of stand-alone training modules on the most common challenges teachers face like classroom management or pair and group work. They include pictures taken in Lao classrooms to help trainers, pedagogical advisers, and teachers visualize teaching strategies in a real teaching environment. “We are eight members in the writing team, coming from different Provinces and with different experience. The most exciting part in the creation of the TSP are the discussions and the diversity of ideas shared with the other writers.”
Ajan Phothong is a strong advocate of diversity, gender equality and inclusive education. “On the occasion of International Women’s Day this year, I had the chance to be selected as a Role Model trainer and to discuss with the Minister of Education and the Ambassador of Australia. They both congratulated Saravan Province for the gender equality in our training team with 47% of the trainers being women. I think diversity in a training team is key. Diversity in terms of gender of course, and also abilities, ethnicity, social backgrounds and experiences, makes the team stronger.”
The Role Model docuseries project is fully supported by the Australian Government through the BEQUAL program. The objective is to promote and encourage the replication of best practices to boost successful implementation of the new curriculum and to show good examples of how to make primary teaching and learning more inclusive.

Source: Lao News Agency

The announcement of the first-ever malaria vaccine not only inspires hope in the battle against one of the planet’s most pernicious diseases but also underscores the need to attack this scourge on multiple fronts, says the head of the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative, which this week rolled out an ambitious five-year plan aimed at taming what he described as “the oldest pandemic.”

Malaria, a parasitic infection spread by mosquitoes, kills hundreds of thousands of people every year. Most of the victims are young children, and most malaria cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

While malaria is not endemic to the United States, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden considers anti-malaria efforts a priority, said Dr. Raj Panjabi, who was appointed as PMI’s global malaria coordinator in February. PMI is a U.S. government program dedicated to fighting the disease.

“It’s the right thing to do,” he told VOA. “There are too many people — over 400,000 — who die every year from malaria. Most of them are children. In fact, a child dies every two minutes from this disease. And over 200 million cases still occur every year. This is the oldest pandemic. It is a pandemic that has killed perhaps more children than any other, certainly in sub-Saharan Africa.

“So that’s the first reason: It’s just the right thing to do. It’s the moral thing to do. We have the tools, the medicines, the tests. Now we have a vaccine that can help us save lives. The second reason is that it is in the interest of the United States for other countries to succeed.”

A new vaccine, announced this week by the World Health Organization, “is a breakthrough for science, child health and malaria control,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Using this vaccine on top of existing tools to prevent malaria could save tens of thousands of young lives each year.”

This four-dose vaccine, developed for children under 2 and tested in three African countries, was found to prevent 30% of severe cases.

Those figures may sound disappointing, but this vaccine is only one tool among several, explained Ashley Birkett, director of the Malaria Vaccine Initiative at PATH, a global organization that promotes health equity and that took part in the 30-year development of the vaccine.

“Thirty percent sounds like a modest number, but when you look at the magnitude of the problem and the fact that we have over 260,000 children dying from malaria a year and a vaccine that can build on the other tools and bring another way of offering protection, it has the potential to have quite a significant impact,” Birkett said.

That, Panjabi said, is why the President’s Malaria Initiative this week unveiled an ambitious billion-dollar-a-year plan aimed at saving another 4 million lives and preventing 1 billion infections over the next five years.

“Medical breakthroughs are not enough,” Panjabi said. One tactic in the plan, he said, is to hire, train and equip local residents as community health workers who can bring tests and medicines to people’s homes. Another is to continue work on vaccine efficacy and development.

So why did it take scientists 30 years to develop this one vaccine? VOA asked Panjabi.

“One of the reasons it’s been more challenging is because parasites are frankly, well, evil geniuses,” he said. “The malaria parasite has about 5,300 genes. The COVID-19 virus has only 10 genes.

“And malaria has a very complex life cycle; it goes between mosquitoes and humans. And so it’s challenging to train the immune system when you have a pathogen that has multiple stages within the bloodstream. And so that’s one of the real reasons that it’s challenging to develop a vaccine for a parasite. And why it’s a remarkable achievement that this has been accomplished. It’s been decades in the making.”

Source: Voice of America

The growing number and share of older persons in Asia and the Pacific represent success stories of declining fertility and increasing longevity; the result of advances in social and economic development. This demographic transition is taking place against the backdrop of the accelerating Fourth Industrial Revolution. But COVID-19, with its epicentre now in Asia and the Pacific, has exacerbated the suffering of older persons in vulnerable situations and demonstrated the fragility of this progress.

Asia and the Pacific is home to the largest number of older persons in the world – and rapidly ageing. When the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted in 2015, 8 per cent of the region’s total population was 65 years or older. By 2030, when the Agenda comes to an end, it is projected that 12 per cent of the total population – one in eight people – will comprise older persons. Fifty-four per cent of all older persons in the region will be women, and their share will increase with age.

Asia and the Pacific has made much progress in connecting the region through information and communication technologies (ICTs). At the same time, it is still the most digitally divided region in the world. Approximately half of its population lacks Internet access. Women and older persons – especially older women – are the least likely to be digitally connected.

COVID-19 has demonstrated how technologies can help fight the spread of the virus, sustain daily life, support business continuity and keep people socially connected. It has also shown that those who are excluded from the digital transformation, including older persons, are at increased risk of being permanently left behind. Digital equity for all ages is, therefore, more important than ever.

The next few years provide an opportunity for Asia and the Pacific to build on its successes with regard to population ageing and rapid digital transformation, learn from the tragic consequences of the pandemic, and promote and strengthen the inclusion of older persons in the digital world. The 2022 Fourth Review and Appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing and the further elaboration of the Asia-Pacific Information Superhighway will allow countries to develop policies and action plans to achieve digital equity for all ages.

Among those policies, it is particularly important to promote digital literacy and narrow digital skills gaps of older persons through tailored peer-to-peer or intergenerational training programmes. In the fast-changing digital environment, developing, strengthening and maintaining digital literacy requires a life-course approach.

Moreover, providing accessible, affordable and reliable Internet connectivity for persons of all ages must be a priority. Expanding digital infrastructure, geographical coverage and digital inclusion of older persons through targeted policies and programmes will improve access, enable greater social participation, empower older persons, and enhance their ability to live independently.

As highlighted in the Madrid Plan of Action, technology can reduce health risks and promote cost-efficient access to health care for older persons, for instance, through telemedicine or robotic surgery. Assistive technology devices and solutions can support more and safer mobility for older persons, especially those with disabilities or living alone. Social media platforms can promote social interaction and reduce social isolation and loneliness.

The ESCAP Guidebook on using Information Communication Technologies to address the health-care needs of older personshas documented good practices from around the region. It also includes policy recommendations and a checklist for policymakers to mainstream ICTs in policies affecting older persons.

While older persons are among the least digitally connected population groups, they are among the most vulnerable to cyberthreats. It is, therefore, critical to establish adequate safety measures, raise awareness, and teach older users to be cautious online.

As we commemorate the United Nations International Day of Older Persons 2021, let us remind ourselves that the risks and vulnerabilities experienced by older persons during the pandemic are not new. Many older persons in the region lack social protection such as access to universal health care and pensions.

The COVID-19 recovery is an opportunity to set the stage for a more inclusive, equitable and age-friendly society, anchored in human rights and guided by the promise of the 2030 Agenda to leave no one behind. Digital equity for all ages, highlighted in the 2030 Agenda, goes beyond national interests. Greater digital cooperation by governments and stakeholders is instrumental for both inclusive and sustainable development and building back better. At the regional and subregional levels, digital cooperation can be fruitfully leveraged to build consensus and share good practices, lessons learned, and policy recommendations. These, in turn, can supplement national level policy and decision-making for the benefit of all age groups.

Source: Lao News Agency