Australia helps schooling in Laos, Myanmar

Australia is giving almost $114 million in aid to help strengthen schooling and teacher training in Myanmar and Laos.

School children learn Burmese with their teacher in Myanmar

Australia is giving Myanmar schools more than 100 million dollars to improve teaching training. (AAP)

School students in Myanmar (Burma) and Laos will get millions of dollars from the Australian government.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced the aid packages while in the two countries over the past week.

Australia will give Laos $86 million over four years to help about 450,000 children learn to read, write and improve numeracy skills.

It's hoped this will help the most disadvantaged children - girls, children from ethnic minority groups and students with disabilities - get a quality education.

At the moment only a quarter of girls in Laos finish primary school.

Another $27.8 million will boost services at 43,000 schools in Myanmar and strengthen teacher training.

This is on top of $24.6 million Australia is giving to promote economic growth, via the World Bank, and support community engagement with the peace process.

Ms Bishop is also looking at expanding the New Colombo Plan to give Australian university students an opportunity to study in Myanmar.


Share

1 min read

Published

Updated


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world