Ministry of Education and Sports and Australia launch Child Protection and Safeguarding video project

The workshop will open with refresher training on the Child Protection and Safeguarding Guidelines for Educators, led by MDAW and the Gender Training experts to ensure technical accuracy and alignment with the new guidance. The refresher will cover key topics such as what safeguarding means in a school context, respecting children’s rights to safety, identifying and preventing child sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment, managing children’s behaviour, appropriate communication with children online and in-person, the risks associated with alcohol and drug use, and how to manage and report suspected harm.

The BEQUAL communications team will take participants through a strategic communications brief and guide the script‑writing process, helping transform technical guidance into accessible scenes, messaging and practical examples for primary teachers. The video is designed to model straightforward actions teachers can take to ensure child protection in school. The aim is behaviour change: to clarify what is acceptable, what must never happen and how to act and report when a child’s safety is at risk.

The workshop’s hands-on exercises will include scenario development, role play to prepare for directing actors, consent and privacy protocols for filming, and decisions about format, combining live action and animation so sensitive topics are handled respectfully. Trainers will emphasise culturally appropriate, non‑graphic portrayals and ways to encourage positive, protective action rather than blame.

Ms Manoly explained “Because safeguarding is inherently sensitive, our production approach will protect children’s dignity and safety at every step: we will avoid re‑enactments of harmful behaviour, secure informed consent from legal guardians, and ensure imagery does not expose a child’s identity or location. With Australia’s support through BEQUAL, we are strengthening our media teams’ skills in ethical filming, scenario scripting and animation design so the content is effective, culturally appropriate and responsible.”

Mr. Michael Currie added “I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Ministry of Education and Sports, particularly the media team, on their commitment to ensuring child protection in all aspects of their work. All BEQUAL‑supported productions follow robust child protection protocols aligned with Australian Government standards: briefings for production teams before entering schools, documented informed consent from guardians, and careful decisions about how children are portrayed. These measures, together with health and safety precautions during filming, ensure children’s wellbeing is paramount throughout production. We value the media teams’ role in promoting safeguarding and are pleased to support this cross‑Ministry collaboration that will benefit the most vulnerable children.”

BEQUAL is a program led by the Lao Government with support from the Australian Government and the United States Government. The program focuses on enhancing educational outcomes for the nation’s youth, especially the vulnerable and disadvantaged. BEQUAL is focused on ensuring gender equality and promoting inclusive education across all activities.