Challenges

COVID-19 lockdowns led to rapid school closures across Lao People’s Democratic Republic, with schools closed for many months in 2020 and 2021. As a result, children across the country had two academic years of disrupted learning. Lao People’s Democratic Republic cannot afford such a devastating learning loss; the Southeast Asian Primary Learning Metrics (2019)1 showed that only one in 10 Grade 5 children in Lao People’s Democratic Republic had basic numeracy and literacy skills even before the pandemic struck. Lao People’s Democratic Republic has the highest learning poverty rate of countries with data in the region – only 2 per cent of children can read a simple text, compared with the regional average of 66 per cent. Children from non-Lao Thai ethnic groups or children with disabilities probably have even lower rates.

The pandemic has probably exacerbated already sub-optimal student learning outcomes, particularly for the most marginalized children. Pre-COVID, students, particularly in secondary education, already had to share textbooks, which was not possible when schools were closed, so their access to learning materials was limited.

Toward a Solution

In response, the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), established the first national digital learning platform, Khang Panya Lao,2 with funding from the European Union and the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). In mid-2020, the Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (MoES) issued a national directive instructing teachers and students to use Khang Panya Lao as an online learning resource with offline functionality, to provide continuity of learning during school closures. UNICEF ensured that the platform provided high-quality learning resources, including official curriculum textbooks and teacher guides from pre-primary to upper secondary, international content and learning resources from local development partners. This helped to ensure continued quality education for all (SDG 4) during and following school closures, improved literacy and numeracy (SDG target 4.6) and strengthened twenty-first century skills development among youth and adolescents (SDG targets 4.4, 4.7).

Building a strong partnership has been key to the success of Khang Panya Lao, with 14 local development partners on board providing digital learning content to the platform and helping to expand its reach both for students and teachers. UNICEF Lao People’s Democratic Republic has also worked with the private sector, including Tespack and local internet service providers to find innovative solutions to expand access to digital learning in rural areas, including using solar-powered media systems to strengthen electricity and internet access. Many countries have implemented digital learning platforms and approaches, particularly during the pandemic, and in light of the successes in Lao People’s Democratic Republic, there is much potential to explore the lessons learned and replication of the model employed in the country.

Indeed, Khang Panya now contains over 350 courses and over 6,000 course lessons translated into Lao. As of April 2023, there were 120,000 registered users and an estimated total 360,000 users nationwide, including over 10,000 teachers across all 18 provinces of Lao People’s Democratic Re Student surveys have shown that the platform has helped ensure children have continued access to curriculum materials all year round, even when schools are closed, which has really helped in the lead-up to national examinations.

The introduction of digital learning is highly significant in the Lao context, where digital literacy and access to digital learning remains very low. To address this, UNICEF is procuring tablets, Smart TVs and projectors for distribution in schools nationwide. It is also investing in offline device hubs and solar-powered media system packs to power devices in remote areas and is exploring partnerships to zero-rate platform content. UNICEF is adding inclusive education content to the platform, including inclusive teaching resources.

Furthermore, Khang Panya Lao is recognized in the Lao education development sector as a national platform owned and led by the Ministry of Education and Sports in Lao People’s Democratic Re The Ministry steers the development of the platform, and this is crucial to its long-term sustainability with the ongoing hosting support of Microsoft and UNICEF.

Moving forward, UNICEF is supporting MoES to expand Khang Panya Lao beyond its initial purpose of providing immediate access to digital learning during the pandemic. The platform is now used in classrooms to ensure access to digital learning and to improve digital literacy among children and adolescents. It is also used by teachers, trainee teachers, pedagogical advisors and others for their own Continuous Professional Development (CPD), with key relevant CPD resources now also stored on the platform, with personal portals for individuals to track their progress online. In this way, Khang Panya Lao is not just a response to the pandemic; it is underpinning a major transformation in how children, teachers and parents learn in Lao People’s Democratic Re