University of Health and Science to be set up

(KPL) The current Faculty of Medical Science will develop into the University of Health and Science.

The announcement was made by the Ministry of Public Health following the signing of an agreement on the transfer of the Medical Science Faculty, National University of Laos, to the Ministry of Public Health this week between Education Minister Prof. Dr Somkot Mangnormek and Public Health Minister Ponmek Dalaloy.

The emerging university will provide a broader curriculum in medicine, dentistry, nursing and laboratory practices, as well as other health and science majors.

Before the transfer, the Ministry of Public Health, the Faculty of Medical Science had been under the management of the National University of Laos for 11 years.

Deputy Prime Minister Mr Somsavat Lengsavad, and representatives of relevant authorities witnessed the transfer ceremony.

Source: kpl.net

A Singaporean student who believes that Asean schools should offer safe sex education as part of their teaching curriculum has won first place in the Young Speakers Contest in Vientiane .

According to an announcement of the judging committee of the contest, released on Tuesday at the Farewell Dinner for the Participants of the 9 th Educational Forum and Young Speakers Contest at the Cosmo Hotel in Vientiane , Ms Crystella Prathap, a Singaporean university student, took first place in the competition, receiving a cash prize of US$ 1,000.

Ms Prathap is a young student who strongly expressed her opinion that safe sex education would be the best way to reduce numbers of people in the region infected with HIV/AIDS.

She explained that when people know the way to prevent the disease, they apply that knowledge and avoid becoming infected with incurable diseases, according to a member of judging committee, the Acting Dean of the Faculty of Letters, Associate Prof. Dr Buasavanh Keovilay, one of the judges.

The judge said the first winner argued that Asian students should never be shy about talk about HIV/AIDS prevention....read more >>

“I asked the winner to talk about the fact that some people in Asean nations consider HIV/AIDS prevention a taboo issue in society. Does she think the introduction of such curriculum would encourage young people to have more love affairs?” she recalled.

The winner responded well, saying that since it was impossible to prevent young people from engaging in love affairs, the only way to is to tell them how to protect themselves, according to Dr Buasavanh.

“She answered that the curriculum will not encourage students to have love affairs but will tell them how to protect themselves from infection with HIV/AIDS,” she added, quoting the winner's answer.

The second and third places in the annual contest went to Filipino university student Mr Kikko Angelo Ramos, who received an award of US$500 and Singaporean university student Ms Ling Pei Shan, who received US$250.

The topic of the contest was “One Asean at the Heart of Dynamic Asia”. In the second round, contestants were given a different topic. Each had some time to prepare their presentation before they spoke in front of the judging committee.

Dr Buasavanh said that the Singaporean and Philippine contestants were advantaged among the students from other Asean nations because as they speak English as their official language, while students from other nations speak English as a foreign language.

“These students do not only speak English well but they also come up with critical thinking and vision,” she said.

Dr Buasavanh said that the Lao contestant was selected from among the best students in the English Department of the Faculty of Letters, but was shy about presenting her ideas in public and did not have a str ong vision.

She said Lao students needed to learn a lot about how to speak in public and how to present logical reasons to convince the public about what they believed in.

A member of the contest's organising committee, Dr Alongkone Saignaleuth said the National University of Laos had been a competitor in the contest since it began in 1997. A Lao student took second place in the contest two years ago in the Philippines , he said.

By Ekaphone Phouthonesy

Photo: From left to right, Mr. Sengsouvanh Chanthalunvong and Mr Sengsouvanh Chanthalunvong

(KPL) The Ministry of Education last Friday held a lecture on graduation from universities in Japan and the application of knowledge into the socio-economic development of the country.

Two graduates with master degrees were selected for last week lecture held in Vientiane.

Lecturers were Mr Sengsouvanh Chanthalunvong who has just graduated from the Nagoya University under the support of Japanese Development Scholarship lectured the theme “Help a child who has done a mistake” and Mr Kaenchan Phommachack lectured his essay “Human Trafficking in Laos”.

“I intend to apply knowledge I have gained in the university in Japan to contribute to the socio-economic development of Laos,” said Mr Sengsouvanh.

Attending the event were Mr Ouam Sengchadavong, Deputy Minister of Education together with representatives of Ministry of Education, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of National Defence, People’s Supreme Court and a number of alumni from Japan.

LUANG PRABANG, Laos : World heritage status has turned the former Lao capital from a ghost town into a tourism hub, but too much of a good thing could soon prove the kiss of death, say experts and residents.

In recent years a trickle of backpackers has turned into a flood of tourists coming to the sleepy town of glistening Buddhist temples and palm shaded French colonial mansions sitting pretty on a Mekong river peninsula.

Camera-toting visitors now follow saffron-robed monks on their morning alms rounds and foreigners are transforming quiet neighbourhoods into rows of cafes and hotels, say those who worry about the town's fragile beauty.

"People are surprised at the pace of change," said Francis Engelmann, a former UNESCO advisor and current resident of Luang Prabang. "There are more cars, there is more noise. Behind my house three new guesthouses are going up." ... more info

The 700-year-old town, seen as the jewel of ancient Lao heritage, threatens to turn into "a mono-industry where everything depends on tourism," he warned.

By the standards of many Asian tourist sites, Luang Prabang retains much of the tranquil charm that led the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation to list it as a world heritage site in 1995.

Nestled below lush hills between the Mekong and Khan rivers, it was once the capital of the Lan Xang kingdom, the Land of One Million Elephants, and remained the spiritual and religious centre of Laos in the centuries since.

The town's fortunes took a dive during the Vietnam War, when US forces fought communist troops in Laos, and in the post-war years from 1975 when the new socialist regime shuttered most of the country's Buddhist temples.

From the late 1980s a few hundred intrepid travellers per year returned to Luang Prabang as Laos re-opened to the outside world, but the years of neglect had taken a heavy toll on Luang Prabang's former royal beauty.

"When I first came here in 1988-89, it was a ghost town," said Engelmann.

"There were only old people and it was a sad place, like a town after an epidemic. Everything was closed and roofs were caving in. The young people were all in Vientiane. Now they have all come back."

World heritage status has placed Luang Prabang firmly on Indochina's tourism map alongside UNESCO-listed sites such as the Angkor Wat temples of Cambodia and the karst islands of Halong Bay in Vietnam.

The UN body imposed strict preservation guidelines, which banned demolitions within the heritage zone and mandated the use of local materials for repairs, overseen by the local Heritage House foundation.

In 2000 UNESCO launched the Monk Project, in which elder craftsmen passed on skills such as wood-carving, mural painting and lacquerwork to young Buddhist monks to maintain the authenticity of temples here and across Laos.

By 2003, the tourism boom was bringing 600,000 visitors a year, says UNESCO, as guesthouses, riverside restaurants and handicraft shops mushroomed, increasing the strain on the town's electricity, water, sewage and garbage services.

The UN cultural agency warned in a 2004 report that development pressure had placed "critical stress on both the environment and the historic cultural resources of Luang Prabang and threatens to overwhelm them".

It warned of a future where "billboards dominate the landscape, where the sound of tour buses drowns out the soft temple prayers, and where the town's residents are reduced to the roles of bit-players in a cultural theme park".

"Today business is good," said Gilles Vautrin, a seven-year resident and owner of several restaurants here. "But the quality of life is not so nice anymore. It's faster and faster and there is more noise."

Vautrin said tourists wearing shorts now crowd out many of the 34 temples that are the core of the town's spiritual heritage and which have always been financed by the Lao residents, some of whom are now leaving town.

"It's become a falang city," he said, using the Lao word for foreigner.

"Many falangs rent houses for 30 years, but who's going to give food to the monks now? The alms-giving round is more like a show, like theatre. The Lao people don't say anything, but I think they don't like it."

He added: "Now the problem is the mass tourism. We're worried about the impact of large Chinese tour groups coming down the Mekong River.

"I think one day the monks will disappear to another retreat, and then we'll lose a lot. The spirit of the town will disappear."

Engelmann agreed that tourism has been a double-edged sword here.

"If you ask businessmen, they'll say it's fuelling business," he said.

"If you ask environmentalists, they'll say it's destructive. If you ask locals, they may say it's bringing jobs, but also driving up prices."

UNESCO listing, he said, "has been good for the 'hardware' - the architecture - but not the 'software' - the people, the monks, the rituals." - AFP/ch

Source: www.channelnewsasia.com