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If knowledge is power, then education is the conduit to great things.
While the countries of Southeast Asia have made great strides in school enrollment and retention rates, the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to undo progress and disparities in school access and quality are still holding back students in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. The hardest hit are those already marginalised — whether by poverty or geography, ethnic or gender bias or inadequate resources — and the challenges facing these youths are hurting their ability to learn.
Action Education (formerly Aide et Action) and Southeast Asia Globe have partnered to highlight barriers to education across the region and reflect how equal access can heal, empower, and include, building a more sustainable and just future for all.
Cambodian schools have been closed for more than 200 days since the onset of Covid-19. Already struggling to engage thousands of young learners pre-pandemic, this extended break has only worsened the situation, with the long-term effects on a generation of students yet to be seen Read More
Laos has long struggled with low standards among its teachers, resulting in very poor educational attainment among its youngest students. The recent Covid-19 outbreak has shuttered schools once more, pausing a much-needed shake up in the country’s approach to learning Read More
Broadband internet became indispensable during the pandemic, facilitating ways to study, work, and socialise online. But rural Laos lags badly behind with its patchy connectivity and expensive broadband internet, jeopardising education and harming development Read More
In the Cambodian frontier city of Poipet, many families who depended on cross-border trade with Thailand to earn a living are facing destitution as land crossings remain closed and Covid-19 shuts down much of the global economy Read More
Recent weeks have seen some of the worst flooding in Cambodia for decades, leaving communities across the Kingdom submerged. What has resulted has been death and injury, displaced households, and major interruptions to the education of young students Read More
When Cambodian schools closed due to Covid-19, poor internet access and a lack of minority language materials made distance learning in rural communities near impossible. But armed with a simple radio, children are rising above these obstacles to their education Read More
Laos has the highest rate of young brides in Southeast Asia – but education is the pathway to female empowerment says Christine Redmond, as she offers lessons and insights from Aide et Action’s women’s entrepreneurship project in the country Read More
In the face of the global economic downturn, how might harnessing the untapped potential of ethnic minority youth not only build a more equitable and sustainable Vietnam, but also accelerate the country’s economic recovery? Read More
Since the outbreak of Covid-19, Cambodia’s urban-poor communities have suffered severe economic shocks and fallen further into poverty. Without a secure social security safety net to fall back on, many are now relying on NGOs to keep them afloat Read More
The socio and economic fallout of the current health crisis is already threatening to undo the gains made to address poverty, hunger, education, good health and well-being in recent years. While the pandemic disrupts almost every facet of life around the globe, Aide et Action poses the question if this disruption could in fact propel early childhood education rather than set it back Read More
In Cambodia’s Kep province, Phou Mom has shaken up the education system in recent decades. Her efforts inspired generations of the Kingdom’s female students, including Vannet Neak, today a school director who is trailblasing a path of her own Read More
Chia Chi Hsu • Mar 13, 2020
About Action Education
Action Education is an international non-governmental organisation (NGO) working in 19 countries to support development of sustainable education projects. Action Education has worked in Southeast Asia since 2003 and implements projects across Cambodia, Lao PDR and Vietnam. Action Education promotes access to high quality education for the most vulnerable and marginalised populations, especially children, to offer a life-long learning journey starting with early childhood and continuing to secondary and vocational education.