Inclusive ECCD: - Consultative Group on Early Childhood Care and ...

CASE STUDIES
LAOSl
Experiences of the Lao
People’s Democratic Republic
in Provision for Children
with Disabilities
JANET C. HOLDSWORTH,
Integrated Education Adviser, SCF(UK),
Lao PDR
PHANNALY THEPPHAVONGSA,
Senior Technical Support Staff,
Ministry of Education, Lao PDR
Don’t use mature wood if you
want to bend it; don’t pick old
mushrooms if you want to eat
them.—LAO PROVERB
In 1992, in a co-operative venture with the Lao
Ministry of Education (MoE), the National Centre
for Medical Rehabilitation in the capital city of
Vientiane opened a small school for children with
sensory impairments. In all, 27 deaf children and
10 blind children enrolled. The centre was staffed
by retrained physiotherapists. This was the first
ever special education available in the country.
One year later, Sapanthong Primary School in
Vientiane became the first Lao primary school to
be able to cater to the needs of children with disabilities.
In 1995 six more primary schools and four
kindergartens were included, and in September
1996 a further six kindergartens and seven primary
schools opened their doors, bringing the total
to twenty-five. This pilot project unites three
distinct but related concepts: school improvement,
education for all, and early intervention.
Background
Laos is a small and very beautiful country in
southeast Asia. Except for the plain bordering the
southern reaches of the Mekong River, it is largely
mountainous and forested. It shares borders
with China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and
Myanmar. It has one of the lowest population
densities in Asia (nineteen per square kilometre)
with a total population estimated at 4.5 million in
1993. This population is scattered and ethnically
diverse with between thirty-eight and sixty-eight
different ethnic groups (depending on the definition
used), many of which speak languages other
than the national Lao language. These are generally
linked into three broad groups; the majority
(55%) Lao Loum (lowland people), the Lao Theung
(27%) (midland people), and the Lao Soung
(18%) (highland people).
Laos has rich natural resources in its many
rivers, which are largely undeveloped, although
electricity is being produced. Forest is lost annually
through the harvesting of hardwood and
through slash and burn farming methods.
Indicators show that Laos remains the poorest
country in the region, with 85% of the population
relying on subsistence agriculture, supplemented
by hunting, fishing and food gathering in
the forests. (Asian Development Bank 1993) In
the last ten years some manufacturing and light
industry have developed, but only in the lowland
areas where infrastructure is available.
Prior to the 1975 revolution, Laos had experienced
fifty years of colonialisation and thirty
years of uninterrupted civil war, culminating in
devastation from American bombing during1965-
75. The new Lao People’s Democratic Republic
was faced with formidable tasks: 800,000 displaced
people, little infrastructure, insignificant
financial resources, a serious lack of skilled personnel
(as many of the educated elite had fled), a
post-war withdrawal of American aid, and a trade
embargo from its most easily reached neighbour,
Thailand. (UNICEF 1992)
In the last twenty years remarkable progress
has been made, particularly since 1986, with the
adoption of the New Economic Mechanism and
the related Public Investment Programme, with
their emphasis on the need for skilled personnel
to fuel economic and social development.
The Education
System
In 1975 fewer than 30% of Lao children had access
to primary education. By 1990 this number
had risen dramatically with the enrolment of 85%
of urban children, 72% of children in non-mountainous
rural areas, and 38% of children in the remoter
mountainous areas. (Lao PDR MoE 1990)
Geography, ethnicity, and gender continue to af-
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