The Ministry of Education and Sports, Australia and USAID bring stakeholders together to prepare for the nationwide rollout of the Spoken Lao Program in school year 2024-25

The Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao PDR (MoES) held a “Spoken Lao Program (SLP) Stakeholder Forum” on 11 July 2024. In opening remarks, Mr. Outhid Thipmany, Deputy Director of the Research Institute for Educational Sciences (RIES), celebrated the Ministry’s successes supporting non-Lao speaking students, and outlined the ambition to go much further.

Mr. Outhid Thipmany said “the impressive results of the trial make it clear the Spoken Lao Program should be available to all schools with students who need additional language learning support because they don’t speak Lao as their mother tongue.”

The Spoken Lao Program strengthens Lao language skills for grade 1 children who speak a language other than Lao at home. MoES started a pilot project in 2019, supported by Australia through the BEQUAL program. Based on the success of the pilot, the Spoken Lao Program was scaled up to 21 districts in 2023-24, with additional support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The results of the trial are overwhelmingly positive, leading to the decision to make the Program available to grade one teachers nationwide.

Mr. Outhid Thipmany said “we are excited to be working with Australia and USAID to ensure all grade one teachers are trained in the SLP teaching approach and have access to the teaching and learning resources.”

Nearly 100 participants from MoES departments, Provincial Education and Sports Services, Teacher Training Colleges, USAID, UNICEF, World Bank, JICA and other development partners gathered to reflect on the successful results of the SLP trial.

Ms. Vanessa Hegarty, First Secretary, Australian Embassy, also provided introductory remarks. “I am honoured to open this Stakeholder Forum to plan for the nationwide rollout of this effective language learning support program for children who don’t speak Lao at home,” Ms. Vanessa said. “Australia strongly believes that improving the learning outcomes for girls and boys, especially those experiencing disadvantage, will have long-term positive outcomes for the development of Laos.”