Reporting ethnic groups

The Government of Laos is always keen to highlight the multi-ethnic makeup of the country. In its current form the Lao People’s Democratic Republic is a relatively new nation, officially founded in 1975. The Lao press plays its role in highlighting the countries national identity and frequently runs articles covering ethnic people. Most press stories refer to the Laos population as the multi-ethnic people. 

Recently there seems to have been a slight lull but two articles caught my attention on Wednesday 29th December. The Vientiane Times ran a story on the importance of improving education amongst ethnic groups. On the same day KPL News covered the Khmu ethnic group New Year celebrations.
 

Education is one of the key development challenges in the country, particularly, as the article states, amongst ethnic groups who often live in the remoter and poorer areas of Laos. One issue that many ethnic groups face is that they have their own language and culture. As a result it’s difficult for children from these groups to access mainstream education. As the Vientiane Times article states the gaps in education standards between urban and rural areas and different ethnic groups and gender are still large.
 

In keeping with the Government’s development goals of ‘growth with equity’ education standards among ethnic groups need to be improved. To do this the Ministry of Education is looking to train teachers in remote areas, often where ethnic groups live, and to include human rights in the basic curriculum. 

Laos recently added an extra year of schooling to the curriculum meaning all children will now spend 12 years at school. As the story says reaching out and ensuring that children of ethnic groups participate is vital if Laos is to achieve the targets set under the Education for All project and the MDGs by 2015. 

In the KPL News article covering the Khmu New Year, the Governor of Vientiane urged the Khmu people to, “enhance their unity and promote the spirit of self-reliance and self-strengthening and put their trust on the leadership of the Party and contribute to national defence”. It’s interesting to note that stories covering ethnic groups often seem to highlight the importance of national integration.