Sharing a Dream
With Australia’s assistance, UNICEF is working to support volunteer teachers in Savannakhet province of Lao PDR under the Community-Based School Readiness programme.
A few kilometres away from the Sepon district centre of Savannakhet province, Lao PDR, is Sagaeng village. To get there, you need to cross a stream where cows and goats around the village often go to cool themselves under the hot sun. Reaching the other side of the stream you are greeted by a steep slope that gives way to a wooden village at its peak.
As you venture deeper, you will find a primary school and an old classroom building tucked away to the left corner of the grounds. Every weekday mornings from eight until eleven, young children in the village gather here. In front of the classroom are sisters Pheng Sidachanh, 24, and Laithong Sidachanh, 18.
But Pheng and Laithong are not full-time teachers.
“In Sagaeng we don’t have a formal pre-primary class or teachers,” said Pheng.
Instead, in Sagaeng there are volunteers/village facilitators like Pheng and Laithong who spend their mornings teaching pre-primary age children as part of the community-based school readiness (CBSR) programme, also known as the “Learn-Through-Play Group”.
“At the heart of the of programme is play and so we do a number of activities with the kids, whether its singing and dancing, learning the Lao alphabet via image cards and outdoor games. Through these activities, children can develop their numerical, reading, writing and teamwork skills necessary for them to advance to primary education,” explained Pheng.
Pheng herself started volunteering as a village facilitator around four years ago, taking over from a previous volunteer and a friend who left to start a family in another village. Her sister Laithong eventually joined her a couple months ago when another teacher volunteer also left the village. Before they begin teaching, both sisters go through an intensive course on the different teaching-learning modules under the programme.
I never had the chance to finish school but I have always dreamed of becoming a teacher. I am happy with what I am doing right now as a volunteer and the fact that I am giving a chance for children in the village to receive basic education.
I only recently began volunteering as a teacher when another former volunteer teacher, who was also a friend, left for work somewhere else. I also want to teach, just like my sister.
Somedays the two sisters teach together. Somedays, they take turns leading the class. Later in the day, the sisters’ would head out to work in the cassava fields under the afternoon heat. It is hard work balancing both duties but the sisters are driven by a shared dream of teaching. And it is a dream that is making all the difference for the future of Sagaeng and its children.
As Pheng and Laithong reflected on what they love most about teaching, they say it’s the joy and laughter that they get to witness on the faces of their students every day. “It makes me happy to see the children enjoy the activities we do with them in class. I try to do my best with the knowledge I learned and the teaching materials we have here,” said Pheng.
With support from the Australian Government via the Australian NGO Cooperation Program, UNICEF is working with the Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao PDR to support volunteer teachers/village facilitators like sisters Pheng and Laithong under the CBSR programme, who serve as an important link between pre-primary and primary education in communities like Sagaeng.
The assistance include orientation workshop, community dialogue, training for village facilitators on use of village facilitator guidebooks, early childhood learning kits, supervision and monitoring support and exchange meetings.
