Every child has the right to education. However, children with disabilities form a significant proportion of the out-of-school population in developing countries. Very often, their abilities are overlooked, their capacities are underestimated and their needs are given low priority. Yet, the barriers they face are more frequently a result of the environment in which they live than a result of their impairment

One of the very first recipients of the BEQUAL Education Innovation Fund is Clay House Studio, a local Lao film making and animation company

For his very first visit outside Vientiane, the new Australian Ambassador, Jean-Bernard Carrasco, chose Savannakhet Province and was delighted to see first hand how the BEQUAL program was helping disadvantaged children access education

Since 2015, the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) has been in the process of revising the Lao PDR national primary curriculum that will be implemented gradually beginning with Grade 1 in September 2019

Literature and research around the world state that the quality of a teacher has a direct impact on student learning outcomes. To improve the learning outcomes of children in primary schools in Laos, it is important to act at the beginning of the learning-teaching journey by improving both the quality and relevance of the primary teacher training curriculum and the training of the teacher educators to deliver that curriculum. This is the rationale behind the BEQUAL-supported Professional Development Program (PDP)

Many young Lao girls do not attend school due to their family’s financial status, and distance from school. Culturally, some families believe girls should stay at home to do housework and raise their younger siblings. Some parents do not understand the importance of education

Napho Noi villagers built the primary school by themselves in 1986, with local materials such as wood planks“, explains Mr Somsak Houkhammani, the Chief of Napho Noi Village in Salavan Province