World Links, in collaboration with the Jhai Foundation, has granted funds of roughly 2.2 billion kip (US$240,000) through the World Bank to support the Asean Schoolnet project in Laos .

A signing ceremony took place on Friday at the Ministry of Education in Vientiane to set the project in motion. The contract was signed by the Director General of Planning and International Cooperation, Mr Ouam Sengchandavong, and the Director of Operations of World Links, Mr Ruwan Salgado, and was witnessed by representatives from the World Bank and other officials.
 

The project will run for two years from 2007-08 and will select at least 10 secondary schools from urban and rural communities to equip with Internet-capable computers and training in information communication and technology (ICT).

Additionally, the project will choose at least three teachers from each school to train in the three modules of the World Links Professional Development training programme – which focuses on the use of the Internet as a teaching and learning tool.

Mr Salgado said the project will also facilitate the training of 10 additional teachers from each school, with the help of pioneer/peer teachers in the use of the Internet.

Asean Schoolnet will also support at least two collaborative projects at each school involving students from other parts of the world, along with at least one evaluation activity to be accomplished in the first year and a follow-up study in the second year, he added.

“The project will be run not only in Laos , but also in Cambodia , the Philippines and Vietnam ,” he said.

He said Asean countries have expressed a keen interest in promoting ICT skills and in preparing students to enter the labour market with the necessary skills to compete in a global economy increasingly driven by knowledge and information.

Mr Salgado said the principal objective of the Asean Schoolnet project was to help disadvantaged youth in Asean countries develop the ‘knowledge economy' in each of their nations.

“The pilot schools will serve as models and learning laboratories in each country, especially in Laos , and contribute to effective policy formulation and planning at both the national and regional levels,” he said.

Mr Ouam said the project seeks to provide underprivileged schools in Laos with an innovative, cost-effective and sustainable means for improving students' problem-solving and technology skills, not to mention increasing access to information and global education resources.

He said the proposed activities aim to narrow the digital divide by promoting the effective use of ICT in teaching and learning in the targeted countries' poor schools.

This will provide participating schools with the global best-practice standards in training, technology, education resources, and evaluation tools to enable them to begin to prepare disadvantaged youth to help in the development of their country.

World Links is an international NGO with extensive experience in developing local capacity to integrate ICT into education. It has been granted funds to administer the Asean Schoolnet programme.

By PHAISYTHONG CHANDARA
(Latest Update September 11, 2007)