Report
Human Rights in Education

Ministry of Education
Center for Promotion of Education for Women-Ethnic-Disabled People
Supported by the World Human Rights and UNESCO
Vientiane Capital, LAO PDR

August 2008

Research Team
Advisory and Management Committee:
1. Associate Professor Dr. Sisamone Sithirajvongsa
Deputy Director General of Department
of Planning and InternationalCooperation,
Team Leader
2. Mrs. Yangxia Lee
Director General, CEWED, Manager andAuthorResearch and data collection team:
1. Ms. Bouaphan Lathida
2. Ms. Dara Khiemthammakhoune
3. Ms. Somthavinh Nanthavong
4. Ms. Bounyeng Xayavong

Head Division, CEWEDHead Division, CEWEDHead Division, CEWEDHead Division, ResearchInstitution of Education andSciences
5. Ms. Viengkeo Phommavong
Head Division, Departmentof Personnel
6. Mr. Sithat Outhaithany
Head Division, CEWED
7. Ms Thongdeng Somchammavong Head Division, Lao NAC
8. Mr. Phengma Xayavong
Deputy Head Division, Department
of Secondary Education
9. Mr. Pina Soukchaleun
Technical Staff, CEWED
10. Ms. Kheungkham Singmanothong Technical Staff, CEWED

Data gathering and joint report writing:
Ms. Somthavinh Nanthavong

Head Division, CEWEDiExecutive Summary
This study is a self evaluation on human rights in school. It has theseobjectives: 1. to study the implementation of the international convention onhuman rights in school, 2. to assess knowledge, understanding, behaviour andthe need of a society to learn international law on human rights in school at the
primary and secondary education, 3. to use data as a reference for the selfevaluation report on human rights in school. The main methodology applied inthis study is desk research together with qualitative and quantitative research.
Knowledge of teachers, directors, students and student guardians in 8 schools in
5 districts within Vientiane Capital and Vientiane Province were tested. Targetsof the study include ethnic boarding schools, private and public primary andsecondary schools, and students and teachers who are in urban areas with easy
access to information and in rural areas.

The findings of this study are:
1. Policy: Many laws and the constitution of Lao PDR are aligned with theinternational law on child rights and human rights. To implement the policyof the government under the constitution, laws and agreements on promoting
gender equality in all aspects (both in quantity and quality), especially toachieve gender equality in the education sector; the government adopted theeducation strategy from now until 2020, Education For All Programme(2003-2015), the National Strategy for the Advancement of Women (20062010), and National Education Programme to promote girls’ education andthe advancement of women in the education sector (2006-2010). These
programmes aim to development both quality male and female humanresources for the socio-economic development of the country.
2. Implementation: Although the international laws on child rights and humanrights are in line with the Constitution and Laws of Lao PDR. However, thedissemination of these laws is not widely, so the understanding andapplication of rights neither are taken into account for every citizen. In thepast, there was not any specific guideline to solve the impact of education
access, especially children in the remote areas. Furthermore, the Education
Law does not adopt the meaning of discrimination that mentioned on Articleii

1 of the International Convention related to women discrimination concept,
so it still causes more girls’ discrimination of access to education. The
implementation of the compulsory education and education law should be
expanded and strict. Every primary school fee must be eradicated andcommunity should be encouraged and mobilized to actively participate andcooperate in education to achieve the Education For All Goals by 2015.
The dissemination of the contents of the international conventions toschools or ethnic population is limited. This shows in the results of theevaluation of knowledge and understanding of the international law on humanrights in school. In terms of the law, the students’ knowledge is in the middle
level (at the primary level 59.52 percent, at the secondary level 77.85 percent).
For teachers, their understanding is only 47.62 percent. The low level ofunderstanding is due to the lack of dissemination, communication, information,
documents, textbooks for research purposes, training for teachers and materials
on Lao laws on human rights and child rights to be used in mainstreaming into
all subjects.
The Ministry of Education and some ministries have carried out important
projects on justices and human rights in school, such as: Children Friendly
School Project, Ethnic Boarding School Project, and Inclusive Education Project
for the disabled students and students with special needs, SOS Project and
Health Promotion in School Project. However, these projects are implemented in
the limited area. They have not yet expanded to the whole country and private
and public education systems.
Apart from these projects, the MoE has also implemented other projects
which contribute to promote human rights in school indirectly: EQIP II, EDP II,
BEGP and so forth. The three priority of education have also been implemented:
improving the access to education, quality and relevance of education andeducation management. Therefore, building a school, creating a goodenvironment and facilitating the involvement of students’ guardians, acommunity and a society in promoting education are also a part of the aims to
implement the international convention on human rights.

iii

Content
TopicsPage number

Research Team
Executive Summary
Contenti
ii
iv

Historical context

1
6
7
8
8
9
10
12
20

General Government Policies
Educational Policies and Projects
Policy Implementation
Gender Equality
Child Friendly School
Human Rights Teaching and Learning
Teaching-learning Materials
Evaluation of Knowledge and Understanding of Human Rights

AnalysisAnalysis of Policies
General Policies and Human Rights
Educational Policies
Analysis of Policy Implementation

Recommendations

23
23
23
24
24
28
28
28
28
29
29

General Recommendations
Specific Recommendations
Policy Developers
Implementers
Stakeholders

Reference

31

iv

National ReportOn

Human Rights in Education in the Education System in
Lao PDR
Historical Context
Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a small landlocked
country located in the central Indo-China peninsula in Southeast Asia. It isbordered by China in the north, Cambodia in the south, Vietnam in the east,
Myanmar in the northwest, and Thailand in the west.
Lao PDR gained independence and declared the country as the Lao
People Democratic Republic on 2 December 1975. The Lao Government has
always had a fair policy that protects and promotes the rights and benefits of Lao
citizens. It also promotes gender equality as stated in the 1991 Constitution,“Lao citizens are all equal before the law irrespective of their gender, social
status, education, beliefs and ethnic group.” (Article 22) Article 24 of theConstitution states that “Citizens of both genders enjoy equal rights in thepolitical, economic, socio-cultural and family affairs.” In 2003, the National
Assembly (NA) adopted revisions to the Constitution including an article thataffirmed that “the State, society and families attend to implementing
development policies and supporting the advancement of women, and toprotecting the legitimate rights and benefits of women and children.” To makesure that the Constitution is implemented, the NA enacted in 2004 the “Law on
Development and Protection of Women.” The President of Lao PDR issued adecree to enforce this law. Based on the law and policy mentioned, theGovernment pays attention to human rights as shown in its ratification of thehuman rights instruments of the United Nations (UN).
The UN was established in 1945, immediately after the World War II
ended, with aims including the maintenance of international peace and security
and international co-operation in promoting and encouraging respect for humanrights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction of race, sex,
language, or religion. Three years later, in 1948, the United Nations adopted The
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) covering political, civil, social,economic and cultural rights. While the UDHR is not a legally binding
document, it requires political and moral commitment from UN member-states
to respect human rights. To implement this declaration, the UN saw thenecessity of adopting human rights treaties, which were binding legal
instruments, and have monitoring mechanisms. In 1966, the UN adopted theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and theInternational Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) thatwere enforced in 1976. The UDHR has become the greatest inspiration and1

aspiration of all human beings. On 7 December 2000, in line with the policy of
the Lao People’s Party and Constitution of the Lao PDR and to stress theimportance of the international human rights instruments, Lao PDR signed the
ICCPR and ICESCR. i The signing of these international human rights
instruments was also meant to ensure respect for the rights of ethnic groups fortheir development and ultimately to lift the country out of the least developed
status by 2020. In 1979, the Lao PDR ratified the Convention on the Eliminationof All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and started to
implement it in 1981.
Lao PDR acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on
8 May 1991 along with more than a hundred other countries. In 1992, theNational Committee for Mother and Child was established to lead theimplementation of the CRC in the country.
Lao PDR has sixteen provinces, one municipality and one hundred fortytwo districts and 10,500 villages (Census 2005). There are 953,000 families inthe total population of 5.6 million, with an annual population growth rate of 2.08
percent. Forty-seven districts have been identified as the poorest districts of thecountry. Majority of the Lao people believe in Buddhism. Lao PDR is aculturally diverse nation. Census 2005 categorizes the population into forty-nine
ethnicities that can be grouped into four main language families, in which the
Lao-Thai group accounts for sixty-four percent and Chinese-Tibetan accounts
for the smallest percentage of the total population.
Language family
Lao-Thai
Mon-Khmer
Chinese-Tibetan
Hmong-Iu Mien
Other/no answer

No. of ethnic
groups832
72% of population
64.9
22.6
2.8
8.5
1.2

% of population
aged 0-16
59.8
25.1
3.0
10.7
1.5

Source: Census 2005

The 2005 Census also shows a large average family size in Lao PDR
with an average rural family size of 5.9 members. Around 1,600 villages haveno road access and 83% of the population live in rural areas and rely on
subsistence agriculture. In order to improve the socio-economic situation, theGovernment places rural development as a key to poverty reduction and theimprovement of living standards. Through rural development, Gross Domestic
Product reached US$ 511 in 2005.
With the New Economic Mechanism introduced in 1986 and based on amarket-oriented economic system, the growth rate of the industrial and service
sectors significantly increased, while the agricultural sector rapidly declined.
2However, in 2005, the agriculture sector still accounted for forty-five percent of
the national income, as shown by Figures 1 and 2. It covers seventy percent of
the total working hours and eighty percent of the labor force.
Figure 1: Share of GDP %, 2000

Figure 2: Share of GDP %, 2005

Agriculture

Agriculture

Industry25%

1%

Industry

Services
Import duties

25%

1%

Services
Import duties

45%
51%
23%

29%

High quality education plays an important role in socio-economic andrural development, and thus contributes to reducing poverty. Hence, theGovernment identified three main key programs in education, namely, (i)improving justice and access/opportunity, (ii) ensuring quality and relevance,and (iii) education management. Various programs, projects and activities havebeen launched under these three main programs.
The Government expanded the education program in remote and ethnic
areas in order to ensure equal access to education by all school-aged students,
and to reduce adult illiteracy in the whole country. Since 2000, improvement ofprivate education (which is rapidly growing in all provinces and will extend up
to tertiary level) gained more attention from the Government. The education
system is gradually being developed and improved to meet the international
educational standards, especially in terms of quality. Article 22 of theConstitution states that the Government shall make an effort to develop
education, and implement compulsory education to equip Lao people withmorality and capacity. The State promotes and supports private sector
investment in the development of the education system in the country. There is aneed to identify priority areas in education, especially for ethnic areas. In
addition, Article 22 emphasizes the right to education for all Lao citizens,particularly those in remote areas, women, ethnic groups, children, anddisadvantaged people.

The Formal Education System
The formal education system of Lao PDR comprises several levels:
1. Kindergarten and pre-school (three months old to six years old) - six-year
duration.
2. Primary education (six to ten years old) - five-year duration.
33. Lower secondary education - three-year duration (the duration will be
expanded to four years starting in 2011).
4. Upper secondary school - three-year duration.
5. Vocational training and higher technical college - three to four-year
duration.
6. Undergraduate level - five-year duration.
7. Master degree, research and PhD – up to six years duration.
Graph of the Education System in Lao PDR:

The Ministry of Education (MOE) has the overall direct management
responsibility for the education system. There is a vertical coordination from theministry to the provincial, district and school education levels. The educational
policy on decentralization is acknowledged and enforced by the Government
since 2002 to increase the ownership and responsibility for each education level.
At the same time, responsibilities of each level are clearly laid out. Training has
been provided to education managers at all levels to ensure that they implement
activities required by their responsibilities. The structure is revised andimproved from time to time to reflect the developments and growth ofinternational and domestic fields of education.

4

The Constitution and the educational strategies of the MOE provide theeducational principles and goals in Lao PDR. The most recent educational
strategy (2000-2010) provides that primary education should focus on fiveaspects of education: moral, intellectual, vocational, physical, and the arts.
Primary education should develop students to become patriotic, to love people’s
democracy, and to acknowledge the national tradition and the revolution. It
builds students’ knowledge, skills and the capacity to continue to higher
education. It develops the students’ basic competency in general vocational
skills to improve local living conditions. It also emphasizes the education of
students to live in society by training the spirit of patriotism; loving theirhometown, village, family and their school; admiring leaders, parents, seniors
and friends; having patience to study; basic knowledge of nature, society andpeople; and having basic knowledge on social-natural sciences and humanity.
Secondary education, comprising of lower and upper levels, aims toenhance knowledge, capacity and talent of students. It generally emphasizes
learning how to accurately use the Lao language and to have basic knowledge ofmathematics, natural sciences and social sciences, laws, information system,
international language, technology and vocational skills.
In line with the 2005 Education for All National Plan of Action, theGovernment is initiating education reform that will lead to more pre-school
education, extension of basic education from eleven to twelve years,
construction of more school buildings, teacher education, development ofcurricula and teaching-learning materials, empowerment of all universities, andestablishment of technical and vocational colleges in all provinces.
There will also be specialized education centers for various purposes. One
relevant center is the Centre of Education Promotion for Women, Ethnic Groups
and People with Disabilities. The objective of this center is to gather all
activities that are related to the promotion of education for women, girls, ethnic
groups and people with disabilities. It aims to assure equality in education insociety. This education reform also focuses on creating female and ethnic staff
at all educational levels, a strategy that enhances equality, justice and fulfillmentof human rights in the education sector.
The Government is working to achieve the educational objectives ofinternational initiatives including the Education For All (EFA) and Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). To implement and achieve the goals of EFA, theGovernment focuses on expanding education into rural, ethnic and remote areas
to make sure that all ethnic groups, both sexes and all ages, have equal access to
education, aligned with human rights in education. The Government has always
seen the solidarity among ethnic groups as central to the peace and sustainabilityof society.

5General Government Policies
Based on the current situation and the current educational concerns, theLao People’s Party and Government give priority to the development ofeducation and consider education as central to human development. To achieve
the goals of EFA, MDGs and National Strategies for Growth and Poverty
Eradication (which focuses on lifting the country out of the least developed
status by 2020), the goal of the Government is to make sure that the Laopopulation from all ethnic groups and both sexes can read and write, achieve
educational attainment, and have the knowledge to apply modern technologysciences to the production process, so that they can participate in thedevelopment of the national socio-economy and can contribute to thecompetitiveness of the country at the regional and international levels. The
promotion of education for women is also viewed as a priority. The National
Strategy on the Promotion of Education for Girls and the Advancement of
Women in the Education Sector (2006-2010) was adapted from the national
policy of the Lao People’s Party and Government under the Constitution, laws
and agreements that ensure gender equality in terms of quantity and gender roles.
In achieving equality in education, the development of quality human resources
for both sexes to support the socio-economic development of the country isneeded.
The Government views education as having a vital role in reducing
poverty. Education can improve the living standards of the people and provide abasis for the growth of the economy. The National Strategy on Poverty
Reduction states that education is a key feature to reduce poverty. Under thisframework, illiteracy must be eradicated, and the people should have theopportunity to access modern technology that can be applied to agricultural
production. Thus, it is significant to ensure equal access to education for all
ethnic groups. The equal opportunity in education will allow Lao people to use
their knowledge to improve their economic conditions that will then contributeto the reduction of poverty by 2020.
The resolution of the 5th National Conference of the Lao People’s Party in2007 requires the MOE in collaboration with the social sciences research centerto conduct further research on the development of the Lao alphabet to match
ethnic verbal languages and support quality teaching of the Lao language within
ethnic groups. The MOE has implemented the resolution through different
approaches. For example, the initial consultation meeting was organized in June2008 to provide quality education to ethnic children and adults.
These policies and programs are based on the policy direction of theGovernment under the Constitution, laws and decrees that ensure qualitative andquantitative equality, particularly to ensure the achievement of equality in6education in order to supply quality female, male and ethnic human resources tothe socio-economic development of the country.

Educational Policies and Projects
To ensure that all Lao citizens receive education, the Government enacted
the Law on Education through Decree number 149/LaoPDR dated 17 July 2007.
Article 6 of the law states that Lao citizens, irrespective of their gender, social
status, education, beliefs and ethnic group have the right to education. Article 17
states clearly that primary education is compulsory, consists of basic necessary
knowledge, and is free of charge for Lao citizens who are six years or older andfrom all ethnic groups. Article 35 states that students have equal rights to study,
conduct research, and seek personal development. Each school, education centerand institute, and education management organization at all levels must ensure
the implementation of rights to gender equality. Articles 36, 37 and 38 also
identify the need to support and provide assistance to students who are frompoor families, are disadvantaged, especially women, ethnic groups, talented
students, people with disabilities, and people with special needs. Furthermore,private education has been expanded as part of the Government’s policy statedin the Article 22 and Article 60 of the Constitution, Article 24 of the National
Education Law provides that the Government has a role in promoting andsupporting individuals, groups, and domestic and international private sectors ininvesting in building schools, centers and institutes at different levels.
The Education Strategic Vision (up to the year 2020) clearly points outthat all Lao citizens must complete a compulsory basic primary education andcontinue their study at the lower secondary level. This is to ensure that the Laopeople can participate in the socio-economic development of the country.
To apply the international human rights instruments into the Lao context,
the Government in 2007 developed a Draft National Action Plan on Human
Rights that consists of four main action plans as follows:o Plan of Action I: The preparation of the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights.
o Plan of Action II: The implementation of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as the other international
human rights instruments to which Lao PDR is a party.
o Plan of Action III: The Human Rights in Education, including thedissemination of information about human rights.
o Plan of Action IV: The Promotion of Cooperation and Providing
Information Related to Human Rights.
The basic purposes of the four main Plans of Action are under the
responsibility of all parties in the public agencies to take into broad and effective
practice. The MOE is responsible directly for Plan of Action III. There are twotargets under the education plan of action which are (i) to ensure teaching and7

learning for general education and higher education levels in both public andprivate sectors providing knowledge, understanding and basis awareness of
Human Rights (ii) to develop a plan for the dissemination of the citizens’ rights
as adopted in the laws of the Lao PD0R and international human rights
instruments for all citizens.

Policy Implementation
Due to increased investment in education by both government and private
sectors, including international investors, children of all ethnic groups haveincreasingly been able to receive education and have increasingly seen theimportance of education. As a result, the number of students and teachers in the
final year report of the education sector, 2007-2008, has increased.
The mid-term evaluation in the EFA report illustrates that the adultliteracy rate (aged 15+) in 2005-2006 was 72.7% (63.2% for females and 82.5%
for males). The literacy rate for youths (aged 15-24) is 83.9% (females 78.7%
and males 89.2%). The indicator on gender equality in literacy (aged 15+) is
0.76.
However, the expansion of education at all levels has mainly occurred inurban areas, especially for the pre-school education level. There is a need to
fully implement the EFA program particularly in relation to early education for
ethnic children, girls and children from the poorest families.

Gender Equality
The Government has a policy to promote the involvement of women in all
sectors and in capacity development. In the past, a number of female educators
have participated in training and capacity-building activities within the country
and overseas. In addition, the promotion of the advancement of women in careerdevelopment is one of the Government’s priorities together with greater efforts
of female officials in developing themselves. To date, a number of women haveincreasingly held a higher position in the education sector. Moreover, a number offemales within the MOE have been upgraded in terms of technical expertise and capacity to
be able to participate effectively in their career development. So far, a number of females
have received training and technical upgrading in the country and overseas.

Although the Government has increasingly promoted the advancement of
women in upgrading their knowledge and skills and in career development, thenumber of women in higher positions and receiving higher education remains
low. In the MOE, only a small number of women hold decision-making
positions. Another issue is the very few representatives of ethnic groups among
officials in the whole education sector. Within the MOE, there are six Hmong8

ethnic staff with only one female; and other ethnic groups have fewer or no
representative.
To achieve the objectives of the Constitution, and the laws and decrees
mentioned above, the MOE has implemented different projects supported byinternational organizations, non-governmental organizations and donors. These
projects help construct schools, support teachers, support students from poorfamilies, support girls and those in rural areas, establish facilities for ethnic
students (such as boarding schools) and students with physical and visualdisabilities (schools and dormitories), provide school feeding program to schools
to ensure children have good health and are nourished food with nutrition, train
communities to support education, promote women’s empowerment, anddevelop curricula and teaching-learning materials. These projects have been
implemented in many provinces in the country.
The MOE actively raises funds from various international organizations,such as UNICEF and UNESCO Bangkok to support several activities including
the provision of training on gender to education managers from the ministrylevel to the provincial, district, school clusters, teachers and teacher training
school management levels; and research on various topics for planning purposes
related to gender equality. In every training workshop, “child rights” is a vital
topic to increase the knowledge of the participants, and support themainstreaming of child rights principles into the teaching-learning process andeducation management. The discussion of child rights focuses on the CRC(mainly the forty articles and the four basic rights such as the right to survive,
the right to protect, the right to full development, and the right to participation)
to make sure that the participants are aware of these rights, able to distinguishthe differences between the rights and the responsibilities of the child, and canapply and mainstream them into the teaching and learning process as well as ineducation management as part of their daily work.

Child Friendly School
The Child Friendly School Project has been implemented for several
years in the country in order to ensure that children receive equally similar
education with the same appropriate school environment. The project focuses on
improving the learning environment and quality of education by emphasizing six
aspects, namely, i) access to schooling for all children, ii) effective teaching andlearning, iii) children’s health and protection, iv) gender responsiveness, v)
participation of children, parents and the community, and (vi) effective
leadership and administration. The project began as a pilot program from thesecond semester of the 2004-2005 school year in three primary schools in
Salavan, Vientiane and Xiengkhouang provinces. With satisfactory results
during the pilot period, the project was expanded to twenty-four more primaryschools in seven provinces (Phongsaly, Oudumxay, Luangnamtha,
9Luangprabang, Xiengkhouang, Vientiane and Salavan). The MOE and UNICEF
cooperated in this project, which constitutes a significant component of thecooperation plan with them for the 2007-2011 period.
With effective results during the pilot period, the project was expanded tocover more schools. However, the implementation of the project has been
limited for many years only to the primary level and in limited target sites inthirty-eight districts of nine provinces. At present, there are seven hundred andsixty-five Child Friendly Schools. Even if the project is expanded up to 80
percent of the total schools in the target districts as mentioned, there is still ahuge need because there are a total 8,830 primary schools, of which 4,242 arecomplete primary schools in one hundred forty-one districts across seventeen
provinces. When an evaluation is done at the end of the project in 2011, it will
neither have covered all the primary schools in all provinces, nor expanded tosecondary schools.
At the same time, the MOE also cooperates with Save the ChildrenNorway (SCN) to pilot the inclusive education for children with disabilities
project in Bolikhamxay province. Training on human rights and child rights isprovided under this project. The training program contains i) orientation on thechild-friendly school project focused on the rights of the child to make sure thatparticipants are able to distinguish the difference between rights andresponsibilities of the child, (ii) school self-assessment by applying the school
quality development standard which consists of six aspects and thirty-two
indicators, iii) education administration and management, iv) school manage
ment information system, v) participatory teaching and learning and theclassroom and school environment organization.

Human Rights Teaching and Learning
The Law on National Education (Article 28), National Education Reform
Strategy (2006-2010) and the strategies of each department have a clear policy
and direction on developing local curricula to ensure that the content of theteaching-learning material reflects the real need and situation of the local
communities. The formal education curriculum specifies twenty percent for
local curricular development, while the non-formal education curriculum setsaside forty percent for local curricular development to integrate into curriculums
local knowledge related to economic and socio-cultural aspects of thecommunities and their important local persons. This is meant to teach theyounger generation the spirit of patriotism and to love their hometown andrespect their ancestors. However, in reality, no province or district has been able
to develop a local curriculum due to limited technical capacity.

10

To make sure that education reflects the current socio-economic situationof the country and the world, teaching-learning curricula are vital in developing
students who love peace and solidarity. At the tertiary level, students of theFaculty of Law, National University of Laos, learn both domestic andinternational law. They also have three hours per semester to learn theinternational human rights instruments that were ratified by Lao PDR. Lecturers
are invited from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Experts in every
two to three month period. Even though the two international human rights
instruments (ICCPR and ICESCR) have not been developed as a specificcurriculum, almost all teachers and lecturers of the Faculties of Law andExternal Relations attend different three week training workshops in Thailand
supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency(SIDA), so that they gain confidence in lecturing and being able to mainstream
the basis context of the two international human rights instruments into theirdifferent teaching topics. The curriculum will be revised and improved to ensure
the International Conventions are completely integrated. Besides the regularlearning schedule, to make sure students gain more awareness on theinternational human rights instruments, a special two-week workshop was
conducted for students in which there are in total fifty participants, with halffrom the Faculty of Law and the other twenty five students are from the Facultyof International Relations.
At the primary school level, the curricula for Grades 4 and 5 mention
human rights by integrating them into the General Knowledge subject (Lesson
46 for Grade 4 and Lesson 39 for Grade 5). At the upper secondary level, humanrights are also taught to students at Grade 11 through a philosophy subject(Lessons 9-13), which is a compulsory subject for a national final examination
and which has a focus on the rights of citizens, laws, and the Constitution. For
example, the Grade 4 textbook of the World Around Us subject, topic 46 content
focuses on the basic knowledge on the law that consists of (i) what is the law?
(ii) laws affecting daily life (birth, death, migration, family registration, identity
card and tax payment), (iii) how the roles and responsibilities of Lao citizens
apply to the law, such as protection of the country from any domestic andoutside security threat, being a volunteer soldier, receiving training, paying tax
and guarding the country, exercising voting rights, and so on. As students andthe country’s youth, their main roles are to pay attention to education, being
good citizens, respecting parents and teachers’ advice. Another example is Topic
39 in Grade 5 of the World Around Us textbook that talks about the law and theroles of Lao citizens. It consists of some important content like (i) summary of
Lao PDR Laws (Civil Law and Criminal Law) (ii) role of Lao citizens about
responsibilities adopted by the Constitution of Lao PDR (iii) the role of students
in society (roles in school, family, society and road traffic). An additional
example of the Population Study subject of Grade 11 (M6) in Part III mentioned
about Government and Laws, Topics 9 to 13 addressed the meaning ofgovernment and its role, law and its role in the Lao PDR Government11

organizational structure, main contents of the Constitution adopted in 1991. The
main objectives of the topics mentioned are to provide basic knowledge related
to laws, roles, rights and responsibilities for Lao students and citizens, and toensure they recognize the exact role of the laws and Constitution to be able toapply in their daily life; and also to be the foundation for their continuing
education at higher and university levels.

Teaching-learning Materials
Although the education system is currently being reformed, teachinglearning curricula, such as the teacher training curriculum, teacher manuals andtextbooks, have also been developed and improved through various projects. For
instance, the Lao-Australian Basic Education Project developed supplementary
curriculum (with twenty-two teacher guides and student textbooks) to
specifically assist the teaching of ethnic students and which was distributed toall schools within the fifty-four districts across eleven provinces that have alarge number of ethnic groups. The curriculum focuses on promoting genderequality and equality among ethnic groups. It also portrays the tradition andculture of each ethnic group. Extra-curricular activity focuses on the newteaching technique, which places students or learners at the center of thelearning process. This is to ensure the involvement of both girls and boys invarious activities and change in the attitude toward promoting the rights
especially for girls and ethnic groups. For example, the Lao literature textbook
for Grade 2, Lesson 6, page 2 mentions a game called “Tiger following pigs”
played during class break and shows pictures of students from different ethnic
groups. This shows the involvement of all ethnic groups in learning, andmotivates them and creates solidarity among ethnic groups from a young age.
An example of teaching and learning material is shown below:

12Moreover, the Second Education Quality Improvement Project-Teacher
Training Enhancement and Status of Teachers (EQIP II-TTEST) revised,
improved and developed the teacher training curriculum, while the Education
Development Project II (EDP II) projects revised, improved and publishedprimary education textbooks. These projects also mainstreamed gender, cultureof ethnic groups, human rights and HIV/AIDS protection concepts into thecontent of the textbooks. The EQIP II is an ongoing loan project from the AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB). According to the original Agreement between the
Government and ADB, the project ran from 2002 to early 2008. However, theproject has been extended to 2010 to ensure all activities would be completed asplanned. The long term goal is to contribute to poverty reduction in Lao PDR byassisting the Government in achieving quality education for children. The
objectives of the project are (i) to improve the relevance, quality and efficiency
of primary and secondary education (ii) to expand access to and improve
retention in primary schools, especially of girls in poor, under served areas of
the country (iii) to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Government at
center, provincial, district and village levels to plan and manage thedecentralized education system and implement the project. The project covers
61 districts in 9 provinces. The key activities of the project are to build Teacher
Training Systems and Teacher Development Capacity, Teacher Educational
Strategy (2006-2015) and Action Plan (2006-2010) Development, construction
and upgrading of training facilities, primary and secondary education
pedagogical advisors upgrading, delivering provincial and district level capacity
on education management, new primary schools’ construction and upgrading
including furniture, existing primary education core textbooks reprinted for thetargets schools and other non-target primary schools in sixty five districts of thecountry, and so on.
Similar to the EQIP II-TTEST, the EDP II is a loan project from theWorld Bank (WB). The Objectives of the project are to achieve universal
completion of primary education for all in the long term. The short term
objective is to increase primary school enrolment and completion. The project
covers the nineteen poorest districts in the six poorest provinces of the country.
The project implementation period is a five year cycle that started in 2005 until
2010. The main activities of the project are construction of new complete
primary schools by applying a community-based contracting approach,providing school grant assistance to ensure children in poor families cancomplete primary education; strengthening the capacity for policy analysis andmanagement; strengthening the information systems for data collection, analysis,
reporting, filing, storing and maintenance; strengthening the capacity forbuilding education management for all levels of the target areas; supporting key
policy and institutional reforms; improving the educational quality by evaluating,revising, publishing and distributing new primary textbooks and teacher guides;
training of trainers for applying multi-grade teaching classrooms and developing
the use of the new curriculum; recruitment of teachers for remote areas, etc. The
13

new textbooks and teacher guides for Grades 1-3 will start to be used in the
2008-2009 school year and the new textbooks and teacher guides for Grades 4-5
will be used in the 2009-2010 school year.
The reproductive health project has also developed a curriculum. There
was a pilot project on the implementation of the curriculum on HIV/AIDS, UXO(unexploded ordnance), and so forth. In general, the content of extra-curricularor additional curricular activities has been improved and incorporates picturesthat portray equality in a better way. Under the new education reforms, allcurricula (primary, secondary and partially the tertiary levels) require to be
improved in terms of content in the sciences and to make sure that thesecurricula reflect the needs of students. In particular, the programs and projects
for basic education development emphasize the revision of the curriculum forthe upper secondary level. This curriculum will be implemented in 2011 andwill incorporate various illustrations on gender equality, ethnicity and the rightto education. In addition, non-formal education curricula have improved withthe focus on the International Convention on the Eradication of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to enhance understanding of learners
on the implementation of gender equality. Students in the economics and law
faculties also received information and knowledge on CEDAW that enhances
their understanding and implementation of human rights in the future.
Up to now, the incorporation of human rights and child rights into
teaching-learning curricula has been limited and the dissemination of knowledge
on human rights and child rights to teachers, students and the media has not yet
been widely involved. Since the Government has signed several international
human rights instruments, it is necessary to disseminate the knowledge onhuman rights and child rights to all citizens, especially students in basic
education as the basis for further education at university, or higher technical andvocational levels.
The National Committee of Human Rights was established under thePrime Ministerial Decree number 84/PM dated 9 December 2003 to implement
the ICCPR and ICESCR, chaired by the Vice Prime Minister, the Minister of
Foreign Affairs. The Committee consists of the Organization of Justice, Lao
National Front, National Commission for the Advancement of Women, Lao
Women’s Union, Trade Unions, Youth Union, the National Commission forMothers and Children and the line ministries. Then based on the guidance of the
National Committee for the implementation of the ICCPR and ICESCR, an
official meeting among different concerned stakeholders was held on 5 August
2004 to discuss coordination of their efforts to implement the international
human rights instruments. As a result, the MOE was required urgently todevelop a supplementary curriculum and teaching-learning materials on humanrights and child rights. The Research Institute on Education Sciences was the
key institution for this task.

14

Some content of the international human rights instruments wasincorporated into the formal education curriculum that was piloted in the 20052006 school year. Hence, the development of curricular and teaching-learningmaterials in the content of the international instruments on human rights and therights of the child became the urgent task for the MOE.
In March 2005, the MOE curriculum development, textbook and teacher
manual development team collected information from three targeted provinces(Vientiane Capital, Champasak and Bokeo) and analyzed the knowledge ofteachers and students on human rights and child rights. The results showed thatteachers and students have a very general understanding of these rights. Thus,
the team developed a textbook and teacher manual to be piloted in these threeprovinces. Seventy thousand textbooks and five hundred teacher guides wereprinted for the primary education level (Grades 4 and 5) and for the secondary
education level (Grades 6 to11). These textbooks and teacher manuals include
the content of human rights issues in education. The content of the two humanrights instruments and the history of their development are incorporated into
these textbooks and manuals to embed the spirit of patriotism and solidarity
among ethnic groups, neighboring countries and countries around the globe andthus ensure peace in the world.

Following are some contents of these textbooks and teacher guides:
Student textbook for Grades 4 and 5: Topic 1: The protection of a child
who has no family consists of these key items i) protection from abuse
and neglect, (ii) protection of a child who has no family, (iii) child
adoption, and (iv) a story of a twelve-year old a boy named Phone who
was abused while living with an aunt, and who was helped by the village
committee.
Teacher guide for Grades 4 and 5: Topic 1: Protection of a child who has
no family. The objectives of this topic are to make sure students are ableto i) recognize and understand that all children have the right to protection
and care, ii) know how to help a person who has no family. This topic
also contains key content such as the protection of a child who is abused
and neglected, a child without a family, and child adoption. The
description of this content focuses on the role and function of the public inprotecting children by setting appropriate social programs. Such programs
should be guided by the rule that in protecting abused children and taking
children to any institution for their care, the public agency should pay
attention to the children’s culture. Moreover, this topic also addresses theteaching and learning materials by discussing Articles 19, 20 and 21 of
the CRC. There are also some activities using illustrations for discussion,etc.
15

Student book for Grades 6 to 9 (Lower Secondary Education Level):
Topic 2: Each child has the right to education, and a story entitled “MyDream.” This story is about a girl named Mai who has no opportunity toreceive an education due to lack of school in her village, who tried to earnmoney in the city to be able to go to school but was abused, and who
finally escaped with the help of two girls. This topic teaches the rights of
all children to education, to development of oneself, to make their own
decisions and propose ideas in a proper way. Students also discuss how
the other two girls are going to help the poor girl, Mai. Moreover, Articles
28, 29 and 32 of the CRC, Article 42 of the Constitution of Lao PDR,
revised version in 2003, and Articles 22 and 47 of the Education Law are
discussed by the whole class.
Teacher guides for Grades 6 to 9 (Lower Secondary Education Level):
Topic 2: Each child has the right to education and a story entitled “MyDream.” The guide mentions the objectives, key content, teaching andlearning materials and activities, and some discussion questions. Finally,
the topic is ended by an evaluation of students’ understanding.
Primary and secondary teachers were given training on these textbooks
and teacher guides with the support of UNESCO and the Australian Government.
In 2005, the project was put on hold due to lack of support.
Examples of the textbooks and teacher guides on the basic knowledge on
the rights of the child, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6 to Grade 8 at the lower
secondary level, and Grades 9 to 11 at the upper secondary level.

Student Textbook for Grades 4 and 5
Basic Knowledge of Human Rights

Teacher Guide for Grades 4 and 5
Basic Knowledge of Human Rights

16

Student Textbook for Grades 9-11 (M4-M6)
Basic Knowledge of Human Rights

Teacher Guide for Grades 9-11 (M4-M6)
Basic Knowledge of Human Rights

Student Textbook for Grades 6-8 (M1-M3)
Basic Knowledge of Human Rights

Teacher Guide for Grades 6-8 (M1-M3)
Basic Knowledge of Human Rights

At the same time, to make sure that knowledge on the rights of the childare disseminated in society, the National Commission for Mothers and Children
produced a training manual and a book on the rights of the children in Lao
language, entitled Our Rights. The content of this manual and book are derived
from the CRC. The content includes forty articles including several articles
referring to “The right to education” (Article 28), “The goal of education”(Article 29), and “The rights of ethnic children” (Article 30). The inclusion ofthese articles illustrates the Government’s efforts to promote human rights andthe rights of ethnic groups. To emphasize the rights of ethnic groups, pictures of17

ethnic children are portrayed on the cover page and under Articles 4 and 30. Our
Rights implements the project on “rights for all,” promotes the CRC to createawareness among education officials, teachers and students and ensures thatthey understand the content and principles of the rights of the child. It also
applies to training programs as well, such as for the integration of human rights
into the education program for each sector. The content of this manual include
songs, plays and stories that are derived from real life childhood experiences andmemorable stories related to the content of the CRC. The content helps teachers
who have been trained to understand the manual easily. However,reconsideration or improvement of some aspects of the manual and textbook is
still necessary. A number of pictures portray boys more than they portray girls.
For example, pictures used in Article 32 “Protection of the Child from Child
Labor” and in Article 33 “Protection of the Child from Drugs/Alcohol,” are only
about boys.

18Article 30: The rights of ethnic children
Our Rights (Vientiane, 2005)

Picture from the book Our Rights

An illustration in the manual Our Rights

Our Rights
Vientiane, 2005

Article 33: The Protection of Children fromDrugs/Alcohol

Article 32: The Protection from Child Labor

19

Evaluation of Knowledge and Understanding of Human Rights
The Lao Committee for Human Rights Education in Schools, establishedby the MOE at the end of 2007 for this research, assessed during the June-July
2008 period the knowledge and understanding about the international
instruments on human rights and the Convention of the Rights of the Child ofstudents, teachers and parents in some primary and secondary schools in
Vientiane Capital and Vientiane province. Following are the results of thesurvey.
a. Primary level, Grades 4 and 5
Based on the responses to a survey questionnaire, 83.33 percent of the
respondents (eighty-four male, forty-six female students) in Grades 4 and 5 atthe primary school level answered that they would like to learn and understandthe international law on child rights. Their responses reveal limited knowledge
and understanding of the international law on the rights of the child.
The results show that respondents could not answer questions very wellespecially on a basic knowledge of child rights. The least understanding is ofquestion 1 “The definition of a child” with only twenty respondents (23.8
percent) having the correct answer. Students might have difficulty in giving thecorrect answer since they might be confused between the words “child” and“infant” in Lao language. Based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a
child is a person below 18 years of age. Hence, there is a need to explain thisprovision to students.
There are three levels of understanding and knowledge on the rights of thechild: the lowest level (nineteen people, 22.62 percent), middle level (fifty
people, 59.52 percent), and highest level (fifteen people, 17.86 percent).
Regarding sex differences and the understanding and knowledge of child rights:
lowest level - nine girls (19.57 percent), ten boys (26.32 percent); middle level thirty girls (65.22 percent), twenty boys (52.63 percent); highest level - sevengirls (15.22 percent), eight boys (21.05 percent).
In general, primary students do not have sufficient knowledge andunderstanding of the rights of the child.
b. Lower secondary level (Grade 8 or M3) and the upper secondary level(Grade 11 or M6)
The survey at the secondary level (one hundred forty nine respondents
with sixty-seven females) shows that 80.54 percent would like to learn more
about the international law on human rights. Their perspective on the law about
20human rights is good but only in a very general sense as illustrated by theuncertain answers to many questions.
The knowledge on the international law on human rights is still low. Only
eight questions out of fifteen were answered correctly by fifty percent of all
respondents.
The levels of understanding and knowledge are as follows: lowest level ten people, 15.44 percent, middle level - one hundred sixteen people, 77.85
percent, and highest level - twenty-three people, 15.44 percent. Regarding sex
differences in the understanding and knowledge on child rights: lowest level –five girls (7.46 percent), five boys (6.10 percent), middle level - fifty girls (74.63
percent), sixty-six boys (80.49 percent), the highest level – twelve girls (19.91
percent), eleven boys (13.41 percent). In general, students’ understanding andknowledge of the law on human rights can be classified to be at the middle level.
Students learn about the international law on human rights from social studies
subjects.
c. School principals and teachers
A total of seventy-eight respondents consisting of fifteen school principals(seven females) and sixty-three teachers (thirty-five females) participated in thesurvey. The results show a general understanding and knowledge on humanrights by the respondent-principals and respondent-teachers. This is due to lackof information, materials and training on the subject. Their understanding of
human rights is based on their knowledge of Lao law. All teachers (100 percent)see the necessity of incorporating international law on human rights into theteaching-learning curriculum.
Up to now, there is no specific school curriculum focusing on humanrights. Teachers mainstream their basic knowledge on human rights (received
from training in other subjects such as history, geography, political studies,
literature and foreign languages) in different subjects to broaden the knowledgeof students.
Teachers also apply human rights principles to address various issues
involving students within the school, such as drug use, quarrels, and violation ofschool rules. Teachers often address the problems by talking with students,
consulting with parents, issuing warnings and punishments according to school
regulations. For students with a poor academic performance, teachers also set up
extra tutoring classes after school, suggest peer study, provide emotional support,
and set extra homework.

21

Teachers also organize additional activities within the school, such as
promotion of girls’ education and solidarity among ethnic groups. Girls andboys participate in these activities. There is also cultural exchange. Students canspeak their own language; girls are encouraged to participate in these additional
activities, and are seated together with boys.
d. Parents and guardians
Parents and guardians of students (forty-five respondents, thirty-threefemales) were interviewed. Through discussion, the parents and guardians
expressed the view that education is important and beneficial to theimprovement of the living standard of the individual, family and country. They
stated that children receive various information and skills from school such as
reading, writing, moral studies, good behavior and living with other people.
Parents hope that their children continue to study up to the highest level.
However, due to inadequate financial means, many parents are not able tosupport the further education of their children to the expected level.
The parents and guardians have a very broad understanding of theinternational law on human rights. According to them, children do not like thefollowing aspects of schools: the behavior and personality of some teachers who
sometimes use impolite and curse words to students, and express bad moods(caused by factors outside the classroom) to students. Parents would liketeachers to lead the learning activities more and use polite words with students.
The majority of the parents and guardians hope for a healthy life, happy
family, wealthy family, improved living standards, and better economic standing
to be able to support the education of their children up to the highest level andhave better prospects for good jobs in the future.

22

Analysis
Analysis of Policies
General Policies and Human Rights
The Constitution and laws of Lao PDR have numerous provisions that are in linewith the international instruments on human and child rights as in the following:
1. Article 32 of CRC on the right of the child to receive protection andcare from family and society - also provided in Article 32 of the 1991
Lao Constitution (as amended in 2003), in Article 42 of family law(1997), and also in a labor law that protects minors, etc.
2. Article 28 of CRC on the right of the child to education - in line with
Articles 6 and 53 of the Education Law of Lao PDR (as revised).
3. Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
Articles 34 and 36 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
on the protection of the rights and the benefits for women and children– related to Article 29, 1991 Constitution of Lao PDR (as amended,2003), the law on the development and protection of women (2004),
and the labor law (1994)
4. Article 27 of the CRC on the right to care – related to Articles 43 and45 of the family law (1997)
5. Article 28 of the CRC, Article 11(1) and Article 15(1,2,3) of theInternational Convention on the Elimination of All Forms ofDiscrimination Against Women (CEDAW) - in line with Articles 29
and 37 of the 1991 Lao Constitution (as amended, 2003), and Article 35of the Education Law (as amended).
6. Articles 1 and 2 of ICCPR and ICESCR on right to non-discrimination reflected in Articles 8, 43 and 44 of the 1991 Lao Constitution (asamended).
8. Article 25 of ICESCR on the right to development, and Article 6 of the
CRC on right to life, survival and development - in line with Article 6of the Education Law (as amended).
9. Article 23 of the CRC on the rights of children suffering disabilities toreceive care and education - reflected in Articles 37 and 38 of the
Education Law (as amended).
In general, child and human rights are acknowledged by theConstitution and laws of Lao PDR.

23

Educational Policies
The Government as a policy considers education as central to humanresource development, especially in terms of developing patriotism, intellectualand scientific vision; and continue to create human resource equipped with skills,
ability to express perspectives and gain employment in order to shift step-bystep the society to a new society of learning, intellectual- and knowledge-based
economy.
The Government pays attention to expanding pre-education and makes theeffort to achieve the target of compulsory primary education. Furthermore, theGovernment has increasingly invested in education as a priority in the allocationof the government budget.
The Government together with the society has put great efforts inensuring the quality of national education, creating education opportunities forthe population, especially for those in remote areas, women, children and thedisadvantaged, and creating a greater vocational education opportunity for the
population. The Government has also promoted and encouraged the involvementof individual, domestic and international organizations in the development of
national education through a credit policy, tax exemption or reduction.
To implement the policy of the Lao People’s Party and the Government
under the Constitution, laws and international agreements that ensure genderequality in both quality and quantity, especially in the education area, theGovernment has drafted the education strategy from the present to 2020,
national education program for all (2003-2015), national policy on theadvancement for women (2006-2010), the national education development
program to promote the education of girls and promote the advancement for
women in the education sector (2006-2010). These programs aim to develop
both female and male human resources to ensure a quality input into the socioeconomic development of the country.

Analysis of Policy Implementation
Although the international agreements on child rights, human rights anderadication of all discrimination against women and children are reflected in theConstitution and laws of the Lao PDR, including the national education law andso forth, the dissemination of knowledge about them has not yet been widely
undertaken. Some specific approaches to address issues such as the cultural
practice of early marriage, that limit particularly women’s opportunity andaccess to education are lacking. The national education law does not specify themeaning of discrimination as stated in Article 1 of CEDAW on eradication of all
forms of discrimination against girls, particularly in rural areas, that affect their24

access to education. The network of compulsory education should be expanded
throughout the country. The Government should ensure that schools will nottake advantage of students by collecting school fees and promote theinvolvement of local authorities to achieve EFA goals by 2015. In addition,
people should become aware of their rights.
In implementing the education development program, the Government
makes the effort of ensuring that all children of school age regardless of theirsex, situation, status, geographic location and ethnicity are all equally enrolled inschool. However, in reality, the ability to expand opportunities for both girls andboys is still unequal, there are either big disparities between urban and remoteareas, province to province and ethnicities. At the higher level of education,
there are only a small number of female students. This is due to the economic
difficulty of families and some cultural practices (such as preference of boys
over girls) which need to be addressed urgently by the Government.
The Lao-Australia Basic Education Project (LABEP-AusAID Project),which developed a supplementary curriculum, (particularly to help teach ethnic
students and train ethnic teachers, especially females) identified several lessons
learned, such as continuing the recruitment of ethnic teachers and building
multigrade schools for children in remote and isolated areas. These measures aremeant to prevent the high rate of dropout and improve retention. There are needs
for training more ethnic teachers to teach in remote areas and to assist ethnic
children who are not yet able to speak the Lao official language. However, theimplementation of the recommendations has been a very slow process and therecommendations have not yet been included in the educational policy.
Proper promotion, learning and realization of human rights of the citizens
are important in raising awareness of the law and ensuring effective enforcementof laws to administer the country. However, human rights are new to the Laopeople. Thus, everyone has to learn about human rights to make sure thatnational and international the laws on human rights are implemented properly.
The study of human rights will not only increase the understanding andknowledge of the individual rights, but also make sure that these rights areproperly implemented and enable people to respect the rights of others andtransfer the rights information to others. The dissemination of knowledge onhuman rights and the rights of the child, as a result of signing international
human rights instruments, to all citizens, especially students in the formal
education system, is a necessity.
The dissemination of the knowledge on human rights instruments toschools and to ethnic areas is limited. The research on the knowledge andunderstanding of international laws on human rights and the child rights
confirmed that the understanding and knowledge of students on these rights arelimited. The level of understanding for primary and secondary students is25

classified in the middle level (Primary level - 59.52 percent, and secondary level- 77.85 percent). This means that students’ understanding is only of a generalnature and uncertain. Only 47.62 percent of teachers understand the laws on
human rights, and their understanding is also of a general nature. This is due tolack of information, documents, materials and training, which could be used toincrease their knowledge and understanding and mainstream the knowledge into
other subjects. Hence, there should be teaching-learning texts on these rights andteachers should receive human rights training. Various methods will need to be
applied in order to disseminate widely the information on these rights tovillagers and students’ parents.
The MOE has a number of projects that promote human rights, such as
the child-friendly school project, a boarding school project for ethnic students,
an inclusive education project for children with disabilities, and children withspecial needs, and a health promotion in schools project. Furthermore, there is a
project developing a textbook and teacher manual on human rights and the childrights.
These projects, however, have been implemented only in a limited area ofthe country and have yet to expand to other parts the country and at all levels of
the public and private educational institutions. They are in the following
situation at present:- The Child Friendly School project is about three years old and has juststarted to reach the provinces. Thus so far it has yet to reach all primaryand secondary schools in the country.
- The inclusive education project for disabled children and children withspecial needs has been implemented for many years but only in limited
targeted schools and the focus on the students with disabilities is not clear.
While data from the targeted project schools are collected, the generaldata on people with disabilities in the country, especially data on people
with hearing, vision and physical mobility and mental disabilities are not
yet available. Services provided to people with disabilities, especiallythose who cannot help themselves are not widely available. At the present,
it is difficult to tell the total number of children with different disabilities
or children who would like special assistance. Furthermore, there is also aneed for policy to guide this activity.
- The ethnic boarding school program is one of the Government’s main
strategies and has received continuing financial support. It is important tocontinue expanding the project to all provinces to make sure that ethnic
children in remote areas and disadvantaged children can access education.
However, the collection of data on ethnicity and sex-disaggregated dataon ethnic linguistic groups is not sufficient. And so far, there has neither
been any assessment or follow up on the implementation of the program
to improve the teaching and learning process, and other aspects of the26

program, nor any program to promote ethnic students to higher educationor achieve needed professions.
- The project on the development of textbooks and teacher manuals abouthuman rights and child rights, with the support of UNESCO and theAustralian Government was put on hold in 2005.
Apart from the above projects, the MOE also implements activities thathave an indirect link to human rights in school, such as EQIP II, EDP II and
BEGP. Based on the development of education in three main prioritized areas,
the construction of schools, the creation of the environment and provision offacilities to mobilize parents to send their children to school, and encouragementof the participation of the community in education are also approaches to reachthe goals of the international human rights instruments.
Although there is a decree issued by the Prime Minister’s Office (number
018/PM dated 10 January 2005) on the collection, dissemination and use of sexdisaggregated data, the implementation in some cases is not satisfactory. The
data collection and use of sex-disaggregated data remains limited.

27

Recommendations:
General Recommendations:
1. The existing human rights curriculum for primary and secondary
education should be applied in the teaching and learning process.
2. Teachers need to be trained in order to increase their knowledge andunderstanding of all the human rights instruments, and also ensure that theteachers can transfer the rights information and mainstream the content of
the human rights instruments into all school subjects.
3. The content and concepts of human rights education, and the international
human rights instruments should be mainstreamed into the teacher
training curriculum, and training workshops should also be conducted forteachers to ensure they have a clear and in depth understanding of humanrights to be able to transfer such understanding into every subject taught
and the teaching and learning process.
4. There is a need to establish a Human Rights Committee at school level toensure effective human rights education practice and concrete outcomes.
5. There is a need to allocate sufficient budget for producing different
education communication materials on international human rights
instruments, which can be used to raise the awareness of students at alllevels of schooling.

Specific Sector Recommendations:
Policy Developers:
1. Documents or research papers relevant to human rights education should
be collected as reference materials for policy development.
2. The content of human rights should be mainstreamed into teacher training
curricula and teacher manuals and textbooks at all school levels to help
teachers teach. Separate supplementary materials may cause difficulties
and has the risk of not getting integrated into teaching practice due to thelength of the existing curriculum.
3. Effective activities and best practices in different projects related tohuman rights in education should be continued.
3. Effective activities under the projects related to human rights education
should be continued.
4. Coordination between the MOE and other ministries, sectors andorganizations, and donors, should be improved in order to implementhuman rights education throughout the education sector.

28

5. Policies related to human rights education should be disseminated byusing various methods, such as radio, television, brochures and posters.
6. Information on model projects illustrating the implementation of humanrights education should be made available.
7. Budget should be allocated for the implementation of specific activities
related human rights education.
8. The MOE should discuss with development NGOs about support
activities related to human rights education. The NGOs in Lao PDR are
ready and pleased to support such programs.
9. School environmental organization is very important to provide a goodenvironment and hygiene for children so that they have a good and warm
feeling, and also to attract them to school. Different facilities could bearranged such as separate toilets for male and female students, covered
playgrounds, places for reading, libraries, laboratories that are appropriate
for boys and girls, etc. The MOE should apply a standard qualification forschool construction for both public and private education.
10. Human rights education assessment should apply to all levels, not only forprimary and secondary education.
11. All children should enjoy equal rights and opportunity to quality
education within the same school environment as that of Child Friendly
Schools. The concerned departments of the MOE should make this apractical policy to be mainstreamed into the education system, and used
for strengthening the local capacity in applying it to other primary andsecondary schools that are not covered by the Child Friendly Schools
Project and ensure its expansion across the whole country.

Implementers
1. There should be training for responsible people and implementers ofhuman rights education programs to ensure that they understand thepolicies, content and direction of actual program implementation.
2. Curriculum developers in the formal and non-formal education systemshould have human rights training before developing curricula.
3. All teachers and education managers should receive a regular training on
human rights education.
4. Parents and local authorities should receive training on human rights andchild rights.
5. There should be an evaluation and monitoring of the progress made in theimplementation of human rights education in schools.

Stakeholders:
The Government of Lao PDR pays attention and respects its citizens’
rights and has already implemented different projects, activities related
directly to human rights, and matched with the two international humanrights instruments in cooperation with different stakeholders, donors,
international organizations and NGOs as follows: the Personnel
29Administration-Priõme Minister’s Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Information andCulture, Research Institute for Education Sciences, National University,
UNICEF, UNESCO, the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United
Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the AustralianGovernment Overseas Aid Program (AusAID), WB, ADB, Sida, SCN,
CRS, and so forth.
1. There is a need to allocate specific budget to support and strengthen
the educators’ capacity in terms of human rights activities at alllevels: policy and action plan development, training, advocacy,
information dissemination, research, and so forth.
2. In general, human rights are a cross cutting issue. However, specificprograms, projects and activities related to human rights in education
still need to be developed and implemented to have concrete
outcomes that can be measured and monitored for progress.

30

References
National EFA Action Plan (2003-2015).
National Strategy on the Advancement of Women (2006-2010), January 2006.
Education Development Plan for the Promotion of Girls’ Education and of
Women’s Advancement in the Education Sector (2006-2010).
Draft ‘Education For All Mid-Decade Assessment and Fast Track
Dissemination Report’, 2007.
Report on the Implementation of Basic Girls’ Education Project No. 1621-Lao(SF) Report on the Lao-Australia Basic Education Project 2007.
Education Law of Lao PDR, revised version, March 2007.
CEDAW Committee Remarks, 28 January 2005, Lao PDR.
Basic Knowledge on Child Rights Textbook for the Primary Education(Grades 4 and 5), 2005.
Basic Knowledge on Human Rights Textbook for Secondary Education, 2005.
National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Eradication, June 2004.
National Constitution of Lao PDR, revised version 2003.
Education Strategic Plan 20 Years (2001-2020), August 2001.
Primary Education Curriculum, Ministry of Education, 1998.
Universal Declaration on Human Rights, United Nations, 10 December 1948.

End notei
The ICESCR was signed by Lao PDR on 7 December 2000 and ratified on 13 February 2007.
The ICCPR was also signed on 7 December 2000 and awaiting ratification.

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