Encouraging Learning through Play to Develop School Readiness

- Maliphet Soukhaseum, Education Specialist, UNICEF Lao PDR 

Leuan Thon is a village, mostly populated by Khmu ethnic group, located in Saravan District (Saravan Province) which is about 24 km far from the district town. It took us 30 minutes to get there from Saravan town through a partially paved road. The pre-primary school here that we came to visit was established in 2012 and is one of the 30 schools supported by the Japan Committee for UNICEF.

One of the first things that strikes my mind is the cleanliness of the classroom where children follow attentively the lesson. The efforts to create a learning environment for children immediately caught the attention of the visitor.

Ms. Kaison, a pre-primary teacher who was trained on pre-primary education management with UNICEF support in January 2018, agrees to demonstrate how she applies lessons learnt into practice. “The training has helped me a lot as we were taught how to create a conductive learning environment which is child-centered. We also learnt new methodological approaches to encourage and support learning of pre-primary aged children through play, and they actually love it,” the teacher explains.

20 children (14 girls) sit in a circle on the mating attention to the pre-primary teacher who is giving  instructions for a learning activity. 

Pre-primary education is one of the early childhood education services stipulated in the Education Law. With UNICEF’s support, the Ministry of Education and Sports aims to improve the quality of pre-primary education to ensure that children get ready for school, schools get ready for children, and families understand the importance of supporting their children's learning and holistic development. 

In the class

While I was observing Ms. Kaison’s class, I had the opportunity to interact with some of the pupils and I was pleasantly surprised to see that they were quite talkative. Normally, it takes a while for children to open up, but I started to get questions from them right away. This was the case of a 5-year old girl called Chomsy, who came straight to me and without being told by her teacher asked me “what is your name?”

“She is a fast learner and speaks with confidence. She is always the first child to raise her hand when I ask questions, “ Ms Kaison explains.

And I can clearly see that. We are all sitting in a circle and the teacher has asked for a volunteer to do an exercise with cards. Chomsy has taken the initiative and has quickly grouped the picture cards in pairs correctly as Ms Kaison requested.

Chomsy during a class exercise

“Chomsy is the youngest daughter in her family. She has two brothers and one sister, and all of them study at the primary school which is located in the same compound as the pre-primary school. Chomsy comes to school every day and loves to play with her friends as she learns new things.  The good thing is that not only she learns fast, but she is also a good fellow and always helps other children when she realizes they need help,” explains the teacher with pride. 

Learning while playing

At this pre-primary school children are encouraged to learn while playing. “We have outdoor activities and children sign and dance. They have so much fun,” says Ms. Kaison while explaining that they organize creativity sessions where children are given certain materials to build or create what they want. “I still remember what Chomsy did. I gave them clay and she made some big nails. When I asked her about her work she said that she had made ten nails for their parents to repair their house,”

and outdoor activities

Chomsy activity participates
in the class-room

Active learning through play, which Ms. Kaison learned from the UNICEF-supported teacher training, has been very well received by pre-primary children not only here but elsewhere. Not only it helps them to learn but it also promotes creativity and critical thinking and builds their communication skills.

Investing in early years

For the Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao PDR, pre-primary education is a key strategy to equip young children with school readiness and thus is putting special efforts in strengthening its early childhood education systems and programmes with the support of key partners like the Japan Committee for UNICEF.

School readiness helps children to develop essential skills, knowledge and attitudes that are required to succeed in school and to continue learning later in life. Physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development are all essential ingredients of school readiness.

Acknowledging the importance of investing in early years, UNICEF will continue to support equitable access to and improve quality of pre-primary education in Lao PDR. 

Joyful early childhood learning in classrooms of Laos

Children reading from 'My Village' storybooks in Ban Nadou pre-school

Three stops, three classrooms. Arriving at the gate of Ban Doub School, our first stop, in Ta Oi district of Saravan province, we hear a clamour from within. The children are laughing, clapping and singing, “My village! My Village is beautiful! My village is fun! My village has a lot of colourful flowers!” We are surprised how quick children remember and learn to sing this song. The Early Childhood Education (ECD) TV team and the ‘My Village’ Claymation series from which the song comes from is from visited this school months earlier in December 2015.

The art of storytelling brings learning to life for Lao pre-school children

Mr Savansay Kyong (25) practices storytelling to a group of pre-children in Ban Nalek Kindergarten.

He holds a colourful book in front of a group of expectant children in a classroom at Ban Nalek Kindergarten. The young man from a rural village of Saravan province looks nervous. Around him young children – mostly 6 or under – look at him, curiously waiting for the man’s next move. With a big smile, he raises his hands and says “Sabaidee” or hello and the room responds in kind with a warm welcome in friendly, eager voices, “Sabaidee teacher!”

The Complete Background to Lao PDR’s Polio Outbreak and Response

Nabua Village, Vientiane Capital: Children in the local Hmong community show us their polio immunization marks ‪#‎endpolio‬ ‪#‎Laos‬ ‪#‎UNICEF‬

In October 2015, the Ministry of Health in Laos reported a case of circulating Vaccine Derived Polio Virus (cVDPV1) in an 8-year old boy who showed symptoms of weakness of the muscles and the muscles and respiration (Acute Flaccid Paralysis – AFP) and died on 11 September 2015. On 29 September a 4-year old boy also showed onset of the symptoms and died a short time later. On 13 January 2016, the Prime Minister of Lao PDR declared cVDPV1 outbreak as a public health emergency. By March 2016, there were 11 confirmed cVDPV 1 cases concentrated in 3 provinces (Bolikhamxay, Xieng Khouang and Xaisomboun) among some ethnic groups. The subsequent investigations and analysis revealed significant immunity gaps. Chief among them an immunization hesitancy among certain population groups.

Breastfeeding in Lao PDR: reaching every mother and child

Low Women’s Union volunteers, Phounvah and Manivone, promoting breastfeeding and healthy eating

© UNICEF Laos/2014/B. Verweij

Phounvah and Manivone love their work. On a humid day in Saravane Province, Lao PDR, they again start walking door to door in a small village to meet new or expectant mothers. As trained volunteers for the Lao Women’s Union (LWU), they have the critical task of delivering potentially lifesaving advice to families.

 

Saravane province has some of the worst health indicators in the county. One out of every ten infants die before their first birthday and stunting rates are among the highest in the world. For this reason, UNICEF and the EU have teamed up with the LWU to reach out to mothers.

Volunteers from LWU like Phounvah and Manivone have been trained and provided materials to offer breastfeeding advice and support to local mothers – advice that if followed would allow children to survive and thrive.

Their first visit was to Pa, a 20 year old mother of two. She could clearly see the benefits of breastfeeding. “I’m exclusively breastfeeding my 6 month baby,” she said holding her new baby and gesturing to her 2 year old who was almost the same size. “I didn’t do this with my first child.”

 

Pa, a mother of two, is shown information about breastfeeding and healthy eating by a Lao Women’s Union volunteer

© UNICEF Laos/2014/B. Verweij

 

 

It was startling to see the how similar in size the two children were, despite the age gap.

 

 “We see many more mothers breastfeeding now,” says Manivong after counselling Pa on healthy foods for their children. “They are all seeing the benefits this brings to their children.”

 

A joint report by UNICEF, ASEAN and WHO shows that nearly half of children under 5 years of age in Lao PDR are stunted, or too short for their age. Poor nutrition, including suboptimal breastfeeding, is one of the key drivers of undernutrition in children. Children in Lao PDR suffer from many problems associated with undernutrition; stunting, wasting and anaemia levels are all high.

 

After visiting Pa the volunteers stroll through the village to meet other mothers. It’s getting even warmer now and with villagers either working in the fields or laying in the shade, the only discernible sounds are the buffalo-bells and crickets.

 

 

Wie, left, learns how to keep her new baby, and herself, healthy.

© UNICEF Laos/2014/B. Verweij

Wie and Lounny welcome the volunteers to sit beneath a stilted home. “Thanks to their support I learned how to feed my baby properly,” says Wie. “I also learned how to keep myself healthy, which is also important.”

 

But, said Lounny, there were still challenges. She said some mothers still give sticky rice to their young babies just to stop them from crying. Next to her home, she told us, a baby was born at 8am. By 11am, it was being fed rice.

 

In Lao PDR, only 40 per cent of babies are exclusively breastfed until 6 months of age. Exclusive breastfeeding up to 6 months and complementary feeding after 6 months protects against childhood diseases but it also protects later in life against diseases such as diabetes.

 

Lao Women’s Union: critical partners

 

When UNICEF was looking for a partner to promote and support exclusive breastfeeding and appropriate complementary feeding across Lao PDR, the LWU was the obvious choice.

 

“To reach as many women and child caregivers as possible, we needed a trusted and active agent in the local community in order to keep broad community support,” says Dr Viorica Berdaga, UNICEF’s Chief of Health and Nutrition in Lao PDR. “It’s a resource that allows you to be present in every community.”

The LWU has 600,000 members and is present in every village in Lao PDR.

 

They have the ability to access women across the multitude of ethnic groups in Lao PDR and in the many different languages.

 

“This contribution from community based workers is very important,” explains Dr Chandavone Phoxay from the Ministry of Health in Lao PDR. “We have two main types: Firstly, the village health volunteers who come from the community level. They are trained for a month in nutrition education as well as behavioural change communication and health promotion. In addition to that, the LWU also plays an important role. Some of the LWU members also became village health volunteers.”



Pa’s youngest child was exclusively breastfed and is thriving

© UNICEF Laos/2014/B. Verweij

UNICEF supports the LWU with training, communication materials and job aids to promote appropriate infant and young child feeding and nutrition in pregnancy and postpartum. Extra funds were provided for cooking demonstrations to engage women and other child caregivers on how to prepare nutritious food using local ingredients.  

 

Additional communication materials were made into visual aids or “memory cards” in order to circumvent the problem of a lack of written languages and a plethora of spoken languages. 

 

“When you cannot use the written language for training, you need to be innovative,” Dr Berdaga explains. UNICEF has also piloted the use of smart phones to convey health and nutrition messages in the local languages.

 

Lao PDR is making a good progress in improving infant and child nutrition. With the help of UNICEF and the EU, and working alongside groups such as the Lao Women’s Union, it seems likely that greater improvements can be made.

 

“Nutrition is very complex,” says Koen Everaert, from the EU Delegation to the Lao PDR.  “It requires a multi-sectoral approach, multi-stakeholders, putting in place the correct structures at the national level, at the sub-national level and most importantly at grassroots level. The biggest work to come now is the scaling up and the rolling out of these very good policies.”

 

For Phounvah and Manivone, it’s another day of gratifying work.