Laos is a country with education inequality, particularly affecting the poorer communities and young girls. Due to education in Laos only being compulsory for 5 years, the education they do receive is often poor quality and under-resourced. This project aims to tackle the education inequality in these areas by providing quality educational resources, teacher training and improved facilities to encourage children to continue their studies into higher education.

Laos education is compulsory for only 5 years meaning that most students drop out after 5 years without essential knowledge and skills to help them find skilled work with a sustainable income. Our project aims to top up the education available to the local community and this project helps us fund the classroom, teaching staff and essential resources to provide a quality education for longer than 5 years.

In Laos, opportunities for education are closely linked to Socio-economic status. This is exacerbated for rural students and even more so for girls. As a result, males commonly come to cities to access opportunities available at the temples and to become Novice Monks – this is not an option for females. Girls face a unique set of barriers impacting their access to education and employment. Traditions and entrenched gender roles mean many girls forgo education to stay home and support their families.

Our work includes increasing community participation in education, supporting school-based teacher training, improving classroom practices and giving children better access to school materials. Our goal is to provide quality resources to ensure that children can continue in school after the compulsory 5 years without struggling due to lack of access to quality education.

The long term impact of this project is to work towards increasing access to quality education for all students regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or religious background by providing a place to study free classes in English and other life skills workshops, as well as providing quality educational materials and resources to aid in education. This is directly contributing to SDG 4-Quality Education and SDG 10-Reduced Inequalities.

Providing opportunities in Laos

By shayle havemann | Project leader

In Laos, access to education and Socio-economic status are closely related. This is due to a lack of free education in Laos and is exacerbated for rural students, who do not have access to schools in the villages. As a result, many young students leave their families and move to larger cities for access to education. we seek to provide a scholarship to increase their access to educational opportunities. Students with sponsorship are less likely to drop out due to economic pressures and therefore more likely to succeed in the long term.   One report shows only 4% of college/uni grads in Laos live below the poverty line as opposed to 47% who didn’t have access to education. We aim to improve students’ ability to increase their socio-economic status and their capacity to contribute to the development of their communities and country. Ultimately, we aim to provide equal access to education, scholarships and employment opportunities for men and women so that they can meaningfully contribute towards the development of Laos. A donation of $50 provides a scholarship for one student per month thank you for your support.