The Basic Education Quality and Access in Laos (BEQUAL) project will help an estimated 450,000 children in Oudomxay province to receive a better quality education.
Plan International Laos and BEQUAL signed a 10-year programme with the Ministry of Education and Sports in Vientiane on Thursday.
The programme will support children in the districts of Houn and Nga in Oudomxay province.
Basic Education Quality and Access in Laos is a 10-year programme led by the Lao governments and Australia, with support from the European Union. BEQUAL will help these children receive a better quality education, with a particular focus on children who traditionally experience poorer education outcomes.
The BEQUAL NGO consortium supports district education and sports offices and village education development committees to promote participation in and access to education by children living in remote and rural locations. The Consortium comprises Plan International, Save the Children, Child Fund and World Vision.
Under the Memorandum of Understanding, Plan will work with the education and sports offices in Houn and Nga districts, the provincial education and sports department in Oudomxay, and the Ministry of Education and Sports in Vientiane to implement activities in 50 target schools, including with addition al funding support from the World Food Programme.
Activities under this project will encourage children, particularly non-Lao speakers, girls and children with disabilities, to enrol in and complete a full course of quality primary education, supported by their parents and communities.
The activities will focus on addressing the quality of teaching of early grade reading and Lao language acquisition in schools, and enabling community engagement to create healthy supportive learning environments in homes and communities.
Previously, the World Bank has partnered with Plan International and Save the Children International to investigate the root causes of early school leaving and low educational outcomes in primary schools in Laos.
Launched in 2015, the Lao Educational Access, Research and Networking (LEARN) project aimed to improve the quality of learning and primary school retention rates for children in four districts of Oudomxay province and three districts of Luang Prabang province.
Source: Vientiane Times
