How can you study successfully when you have little or no understanding of the language of instruction? This is a reality faced by many children in Laos when they start school. Lao is the official language of instruction. All textbooks, educational materials and teaching are in Lao language. Yet 38% of the children entering primary school do not have Lao or a dialect of Lao as their mother tongue

As Grade 1 students are about to start school next week with a new curriculum, the Districts Education and Sports Bureaus (DESB) have been very busy liaising with every primary school in the country to distribute the new textbooks and teacher resource packs

School is starting soon… Are you getting excited? A little bit nervous? Are you ready?

In a few days, all Grade 1 children will start the school-year with new colorful textbooks and a new active learning methodology

The scale of the new Grade 1 curriculum training is without precedent: Over a period of only nine weeks, 483 six-days face to face workshops will have been delivered and over 16,700 Grade 1 teachers, primary school principals and pedagogical advisors will have been trained by 611 provincial trainers and 60 master trainers

This September, all Lao Grade 1 students will start the school-year with a new curriculum. The curriculum revision is significant as it is nationwide and entails a new pedagogical approach

This Sunday, the first episode of the Learn Together series will be broadcasted on Lao National TV Channel 3 at 4.45 pm and PSTV at 10.30 am. There will be a new episode every two weeks. All episodes will also be available for unlimited viewing on the YouTube Channel ຮຽນຮູ້ຮ່ວມກັນ Learn Together Laos

There is no doubt that waste plastic is a major source of pollution. Plastic never goes away. It cannot biodegrade; it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces which seep down into the soil and release chemicals, which eventually reach the water supply

In total, over 856,000 Grade 1 textbooks and 9,000 Grade 1 teacher resource packs have been successfully delivered to all 148 districts across the Lao PDR