Social development
Family, children and youth
Laos Ranks Lowest in Global English Proficiency Test
The Education First English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) conducts the world’s most expansive ranking of adults by their fluency in English. This year’s index featured 111 countries, Laos ranked the lowest on the list and Netherlands ranked the highest. The countries were divided into five bands: ...
Amrita Paul
As Laos inches closer to economic default, underage girls face a higher risk of child marriage
Houa* sat on the doorstep of her bamboo house helping her grandmother pluck a chicken. She is not even ten years old, but she is learning how to become a ‘good wife.’ As the Covid pandemic and economic crisis hit the family hard, Houa dropped out ...
BEATRICE SIVIERO
Southeast Asia’s abortion laws reset at the borders
Abortion is a global health issue, impacting individuals and families regardless of ethnicity, income, social status or nationality. Yet there is no worldwide legal standard for the practice of terminating a pregnancy. Lawmakers and governments hold sway over access to abortion, or its abolition. In the ...
BRIAN P. D. HANNON
Harnessing the ASEAN youth’s powers for the environment
In the multiverse theory, there exist alternate realities where we have Earths that are untouched, lush, and teeming with biodiversity. But our reality is we only have one Earth, and on this World Environment Day, we once again contemplate its health and existence to ensure that ...
PM calls for better development, protection of children
Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh has called for joint efforts by all stakeholders to create conditions and opportunities for the better development of children. The premier made the remarks in a message he delivered to mark the International Children’s Day, which falls on June 1. On this occasion, ...
Times Reporters
The Cambodian activists risking their freedom for the environment
Mother Nature is a group made up of young activists attempting to protect Cambodia’s environment from widespread destruction. But the group has increasingly been targeted, with some even jailed for their activism. Thon Ratha and Long Kunthea are passionate, young environmental activists for Mother Nature. They ...
Mech Dara & George Wright
Japan funds environmental awareness, child protection programmes
The Japanese government has provided more than $800,000 in funding to two Japanese NGOs, under its grant assistance framework. The NGOs are engaged in raising awareness of environment issues and eliminating violence against children in schools. The grant contract was signed on March 12 by Japanese ...
Ry Sochan
Vietnam preparing policies for safer cyber environment for children
Vietnam now has around 15 million under-16 children, who are considered the most vulnerable to harmful effects like bullying, attacks, scamming, and even sexual assaults on the cyber environment. Reports from Kaspersky reveal that in Vietnam, the most popular websites to the young under 16 are ...
Ba Tan, Tran Luu – Translated by Thanh Tam
Online child abuse spikes amid pandemic
Vietnamese children face greater risks of sexual abuse with prolonged school closures and online classes exposing them to exploitation via social networks. A month before graduating, Khanh Ngoc, a high school student in Hanoi, received a message from a strange Facebook account. Opening it, she encountered ...
Phan Duong
Proper nutrition feeds into safer pregnancies and healthy children
Every day families welcome new life into the world. New parents and caregivers want to ensure each child gets the best start but the most basic of needs, proper nutrition, is not equitably accessible. This has devastating effects. Nearly half of all deaths in children under ...
STÉPHANE VIDRY AND BOON YEE YEONG