austraLasia
#1876
High level Laos delegation
to investigate possibilities for 'Don Bosco' school in
Vientiane
VIENTIANE: 13th
June 2007 -- A delegation of six men
and women, including the Deputy Director of the Foreign Affairs Office, the Head
of the Non-formal Education Department and the Deputy Director of the Education
Department from Vientiane, have already completed a visit to Don Bosco
institutions in Cambodia and are about to embark on a similar visit to Bangkok
from 23-26 June. The delegation leader, Ms. Ketmany Bandasak (Deputy
Director Education Department) has expressed the desire to have a Don Bosco
technical school in Vientiane 'as soon as possible'.
This
story has its own important history. There is a Don Bosco presence in
Vientiane - has been since 24th May 2004 in fact. It went back to an
invitation, 10 years previously, by the then Nuncio in Thailand, following a
request from the Laotian Ambassador in Thailand. The group which arrived
in Vientiane in 2004 included five Laotian past pupils who had attended a
Salesian school in Bangkok under a study bursary arrangement following the 1994
request. With the group was a lay teacher from the Bangkok's Saint Dominic Savio
school and Fr Pedron. The latter returned to Thailand but has remained the
provincial delegate for the presence. The small workshop that was set up took in
a dozen local students in its first year, then doubled the following year.
Laotian government officials were impressed but had still not given formal
approval. While there is a 'memorandum of understanding', the presence has not
been formalised.
The delegation's visit to Cambodia in May
was a crucial one for future planning. There they met not only those
involved in several presences of the Don Bosco Foundation, but also with the
Cambodian Minister for Work and Technical Education. The Cambodian minister
explained how, 20 years ago, they too had their doubts, particularly relating to
the political order and matters of religion, but pronounced the judgement that '
we have seen over these years, however, that a Don Bosco school prepares the
students well and there is by now a large number of them contributing
effectively to the development of the Country. They create no difficulties but
work together for the common good'. He expressed the hope that Laos could
receive a similar benefit from such a school in its Capital.
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