Early childhood education is a pivotal moment in a child’s development. Attending preschool can boost their literacy and numeracy skills, as well as their social skills. They learn to draw, sing, dance and play with their peers.
But unfortunately for some children who live in rural Timor-Leste, distance makes it almost impossible for them to attend preschool. One community, Caicasavou in Liquica is perched on top of a mountain, and can only be accessed through one rocky, rough road.
ChildFund Timor-Leste worked with local partners to establish ten community preschools, in Lautem and Liquica, so that children aged three to five can access early education. One of the new preschools is in Caicasavou. Now, in Timor-Leste attending preschool has become a prerequisite for children to be accepted into Primary school.
Sebastiao, 48-years-old, is the president of a school management committee in Caicasavou. He led the construction of the classrooms and made sure they were ready for use.
“Here we have many children below the age of five and before now there was no preschool. When we heard about the plan to build a preschool here, we worked with the local authorities to construct this building so our children and grandchildren can enroll and study here,” said Sebastião.
Sebastiao also shared that he was happy to have the opportunity to work on the school.
One young teacher, Ronia, is excited about the new preschool. “It is important to have preschool in our village because oftentimes children repeat class because they did not go through preschool.”
When they started building the preschool, ChildFund worked to encourage local parents to be involved so they could learn about the importance of early childhood education. “Parents are more aware of the importance of preschool and now they bring their children to the school,” she said.
Ronia attended training by the Ministry of Education’s National Institute for Training of Teachers and Education Professionals to learn more about lesson planning, class management, leading group activities and other skills to support her in becoming a better teacher.
As a father, Pedro is happy to have a preschool near his home.
“My son now goes to school here. I don’t mind walking him here every day to come and learn because we finally have a preschool and a teacher that can teach our children,” he said.
Sebastiao is hopeful that the school will benefit children in the future. “I feel happy because this school is now helping more children to attend primary school,” he said.
ChildFund continues to support these communities and school management committees. This project is funded by Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade ANCP and implemented by ChildFund, with support from the Ministry of Education’s National Institute for Training of Teachers and Education Professionals (INFORDEPE) for teacher training.
The Ready for Life (R4L) project is a three-year program, equipping 267 young people across Laos with planning, communication, responsible decision-making and confidence to become community leaders.
The project, implemented by ChildFund in Laos, is being run across 30 target schools in the Xiengkhouang, Houaphanh Provinces and in the capital city, Vientiane. So far, the project has worked with 4,053 young people to educate them on youth-related issues, including digital literacy and sexual and reproductive health.
Cindy, 18 years old, has been a part of the R4L program for the last three years and is now one of the trainers. In 2019, she was selected to take part in the ASEAN Children’s Summit, and after this experience, she decided to continue to work with ChildFund.
“I enjoyed being a youth trainer and representative from my school and did a lot of activities with my fellow team members a lot. When I first applied to be a youth trainer, I just wanted to try something new and have fun with my friends. But after taking part, I learned that the knowledge I have was valuable. I realised that I could help many other children from other schools and provinces,” she said.
After building her confidence, Cindy has been to many forums, regularly speaking and advocating for the rights of children in her community. She said that she has enjoyed the opportunities she has gained since being a part of the program. “Since I was a youth volunteer in ChildFund in Laos, I have joined various activities. I participated in the Lao children’s Forum 2019 in Vientiane capital and the Asian Children’s Summit 2019 in Bangkok, Thailand as a Lao representative.”
Through these opportunities, she has been able to develop her confidence and leadership skills. She has shown that she is highly committed to her work and over time she has become a community role model, inspiring her peers to challenge themselves and also take part in the project.
Cindy is very passionate about empowering women and young girls and will be speaking about this topic at the Lao Youth Talks event. But she knows public speaking is an area of improvement for her.
“It is very challenging for me to talk in front of people on stage. I think every day about what lessons I want the audience to gain after listening to my speech. From when I was a young girl, I believed in women’s empowerment. Every woman can make their own choice, can earn money and should feel valued. Because of that attitude, I was chosen to be a youth speaker in the Lao Youth Talks.”
“I am proud of what I’ve done and worked so hard until this day, but I have to continuously improve and develop myself for the better. I think that learning is a lifelong journey. If we stop learning, our lives will not go so far. I love to study new things and improve my skills.”
Cindy has taken part in many of the project activities as part of the R4L project. With support from the team, young people like Cindy can effectively advocate for children’s rights across Laos. They can work together to solve the issues facing young people and come up with creative solutions.
In the future, the project will continue to work with youth volunteers to provide the knowledge and skills to empower them to become leaders in their communities.
This project is supported by the Australian Government through the Australian NGO Cooperation Program (ANCP).
