ພາສາລາວ
Dr. Daravone presents gifts to the school in thanks for volunteering for the film
This episode highlights how family and community support helps children stay in school
This week, the Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao PDR (MoES), with support from the Australian Government through the BEQUAL program, began filming the fourth episode of their national Education Promotion campaign. Led by the Research Institute for Educational Sciences (RIES) and produced by RIES’ Information Media Center (IMC), the episode titled “The village that supported education”, presents a moving, community-led response to declining school attendance and shows how collective action can secure better futures for children.
Dr Daravone Kittiphanh, Vice Minister of Education and Sports of Lao PDR visited the set on the first day of filming to observe and encourage the production team. She reaffirmed the importance of the campaign to change the perception of education. “This campaign is about building a shared vision: when communities value schooling, children gain the skills they need to thrive and our nation grows stronger. By showing how teachers, families and communities can work together, we aim to change attitudes and make education a priority for every family.”
The story follows three central characters whose lives change because their village chooses to support education. Ms Dao helps at home instead of attending school; Mr Phone spends his days playing; and Ms Phern, who has a physical disability, is not enrolled. The village chief convenes a community meeting to highlight the long-term negative impacts when children do not attend school. The community responds: parents repair the school, teachers counsel families, fathers help cover textbooks, mothers accompany children to class and grandparents support learning at home. The film then jumps forward twenty years to show the results of that collective commitment: Dao returns to the village as an architect, Phone as a nurse, and Phern as a teacher. The story closes with them sharing their stories with a new generation of students.
Dr Daravone commented “This episode powerfully shows that education is not only a family matter but a community responsibility. When community members work together to remove barriers to schooling, the benefits ripple through families and across generations. I congratulate the production team and all volunteers for bringing this vital message to life.”
Production team and volunteer actors from Episode 4 of the Education Promotion campaign
Dr. Daravone Kittiphanh, Vice Minister of Education and Sports visited the filming set to encourage the team
Ms Vanessa Hegarty, First Secretary at the Australian Embassy, commented: “Australia is proud to support a campaign that showcases the real, practical ways communities can help to keep children in school. By telling authentic stories rooted in local experience, these videos encourage parents see the lifelong value of education and inspire young people to continue learning. We congratulate everyone involved in this important production.”
Filming takes place across multiple village locations including the primary school, village gardens, family homes, a local pho restaurant, the temple meeting place and the district hospital. Local participation is strong: more than 80 community members volunteered to act in the episode, alongside nearly 200 students and teachers from the participating schools. The production team worked closely with provincial and district education offices as well as MoES’ Inclusive Education Promotion Center under the Department of General Education to ensure an inclusive cast and authentic scenes, including a village chief who is a woman and a main character with a physical disability played by two actors (a student and an adult teacher).
Ms Vanessa Hegarty noted “This episode models gender-progressive roles with female community leaders, men sharing childcare and household responsibilities, and inclusive representation of people with disabilities. Australia strongly believes that promoting gender equality, disability equity and rights, and social inclusion is central to changing attitudes and creating opportunities for all children.”
Mr. Outhid Thipmany, DDG of RIES, observes thescene where a teacher visits parents to urge them to school their child with disabilities
This final episode tells the story of a village that took action to promote education
The Education Promotion campaign comprises four videos that bring together students, parents, teachers and community leaders to change perceptions about the value of education. The first two episodes have already been broadcast nationwide on television, shared on social media and distributed to education officials, teachers and community advocates to support local outreach. The MoES and its partners encourage everyone to share the episodes widely to reach village, district and provincial audiences.
Dr Daravone concluded: “We thank the Australian Government for its financial and technical support for this important campaign. Through the BEQUAL program, Australia is helping to build local capacity by providing on‑the‑job training and technical assistance in scriptwriting, casting and inclusive storytelling. I have seen the high quality and emotional power of this production, and I hope it will begin to shift perceptions across communities. The Ministry looks forward to releasing the final video and continuing the nationwide dialogue on why every child in Laos deserves the opportunity to learn.”
BEQUAL is a program led by the Lao Government with support from the Australian Government and the United States Government. The program focuses on enhancing educational outcomes for the nation’s youth, especially the vulnerable and disadvantaged. BEQUAL is focused on ensuring gender equality and promoting inclusive education across all activities.
The video also includes climate change education, shown in a classroom experiment about a landslide
To show that education is everyone’s responsibility, a scene shows teachers and villagers working together to repair school furniture
