Parent's Review of KIS in Vientiane, Laos

What is the name of your child's school? (Please report on one school per survey.)

KIS

In what town or city is this school located?

Vientiane

How would you describe this school? (i.e. American, British, International, Local, etc.)

So-called International School (in actual fact: bilingual)

What grade levels are represented at this school?

Kindergarten to year 12. IGCSE available.

How do most children get to school everyday? (bus, train, walk, etc.)

School bus service, car

How would you describe the facilities at this school? What extra-curricular activities are available?

The word “Kiettisack” translates as “honor”. Exactly how honorable conditions at this institution are, you may wish to decide for yourself. When inspecting this or any other school it is highly recommendable to approach the teachers. Being employed by the school they will generally avoid problematic issues. But ask them about the student numbers of their classes. This will give you a rough indicator of the school’s priorities. Are “Children the future” (K.I.S. slogan) or are they the most direct route to your Dollars ? You decide ! Having worked at the school as a foreign staff member for a number of years, I’m sorry to say that the shortcomings of Kiettisack International School described in some of the previous contributions are mostly accurate and unfortunately just the tip of the iceberg.

As already mentioned, K.I.S. is first and fore most a business and second a school. It’s run by the Valakones, a Lao-national director=owner, her sister-in-law, as well as the family clan surrounding them. It is frequented mostly by the Lao elite and newly rich. Depending on how you’d count mixed-nationality children, I’d estimate Lao children comprise roughly 80-90% of the student population. The teacher-student ratio is twenty-five to thirty students to a class. Of the foreign teachers only about 80% are native speakers. It’s school policy to accept every new and paying student, if in any way possible and all year around. If there’s no room in the appropriate classes, newcomers have been accommodated in inappropriate year levels. Compared to other schools around town the tuition fees may seem low, but not included are a number of ‘hidden’ charges, on all of which the school makes a profit. These include the school lunches, uniforms, books, the school bus service and field trips.

MEALS & HYGENE

For lunch the school serves local cuisine, which (I can confirm this) is indeed prepared on the kitchen floor, situated next to the main toilet area. Students have a choice of either a plain local-style meal containing meat or a vegetarian choice. Depending on the weekday, this may be a rice or noodle dish or often merely a bowl of soup. Everyone queues up at the distribution tables which are open to all sides. All students and staff members have to bend over the open pots and bowls to be handed their daily rations. Especially younger learners invariably cough and sneeze over the food. K.I.S. meals have little nutritional value and are generally prepared in a poorly seasoned manner. Usually the amount of food prepared is not sufficient, letting children who arrive late go hungry. Also located on the school grounds are three kiosks which specialize almost exclusively in sweets and fatty foods. One of these is owned by a Valakone.

EDUCATION & RESOURCES

The elementary classes loosely follow the official New South Wales Curriculum, which prescribes themes by subject and school year. It doesn’t include specific text book titles. So teachers have no choice but to piece together a puzzle of the sparse and usually grossly outdated materials found in the disorganized resource room. At the end of every school year the management reshuffles teaching staff and year levels, often regardless of the teachers’ preferences, qualification or experience. Thereby, teachers regularly find themselves facing a new level and aren’t able to develop and refine their grade-specific strategies and resources. Furthermore, original text books are a rarity at K.I.S. Books are photocopied, often in the 2nd or 3rd generation and sold for a profit (check local copy prices). This is not only illegal, and serves as a bad example for the learners, but the quality of the copies are poor, words are cut off, images unrecognizable etc. As mentioned above, no paying students are rejected. The management accepts students with learning disabilities or diagnosed mental handicaps, fully knowing that they won’t get the specialized support they need. Many of these stay back in the English as a Second Language (ESL/ESC) Program year after year, slowing the general learning pace. The advertised purpose of the ESL/ESC program is to prepare newcomers for the English level of the regular mainstream classes. But since the mainstream is mostly over occupied, they are kept back in the Second Language programs even though their proficiency of English would permit them to move on.

I can also confirm that K.I.S. is an international school by name only. The language of instruction in the morning program is English. But the overall language abilities of the students in the mainstream are relatively poor, so that some regular program teachers have found it appropriate to resort to Cutting Edge (ESL) textbooks. Pupils addressing one another in- and outside of the classroom predominantly use Lao.

STAFF

Most Elementary and Second Language classes are granted a Lao assistant teacher. But much of the office and library staff and even some of the assistant teachers speak little to no English. Many of them are part of the management family. The librarian's literacy for example doesn't seem to extend much beyond palm reading. That's not her fault, but nonetheless she's found employment at the school and has since transformed the tiny library room into a DVD cinema.

The foreign staff members are mostly dedicated and approachable, and manage the big classes to the best of their abilities. The school hires applicants with university degrees (any degree). There has been at least one instance where a foreigner didn’t fulfill this requirement, but was hired nonetheless. He's the son of one of the manager’s business partners. What's more, no police record checks are conducted. In recent years, there have been a handful of teachers inflicting disciplinary measures through physical abuse on their pupils. Of these, one teacher spoke very openly to other staff members about his mistreatment of the children. This was immediately reported to the management, which in turn was slow react. The accused teacher was permitted to keep his employment for another three years, despite repeated and ongoing complaints by the foreign staff.

SCHOOL FACILITIES

Some of the classrooms have rather thin-longish dimensions, ill-suited for lessons of any kind. The students' wooden tables and chairs are locally manufactured and of very poor quality. Often bits of the furniture break off, leaving dangerously sharp edges and protruding nails which cut into clothes and skin.

Despite its many faults, more and more uninformed parents send their children to K.I.S. In the past school year (2010-11), well over six-hundred children were enrolled. That’s an increase of more than a hundred compared to the previous year. In order to maximize profit a three- and a two-story building were recently added, cutting down the recess play area significantly. Students go to and from their classes using open, balcony-like walkways with poorly secured steel railings. Fortunately, nobody has fallen down yet, but books and other objects do occasional plunge onto students standing below. Furthermore, the three-story building housing around 150 students has only a single set of staircases. Should a fire breakout on or near these then fatalities are unavoidable. More buildings on the same grounds are to be constructed.

STUDENT ISSUES

The fact that more and more students are compacted into an increasingly smaller space has lead to a higher risk of student injuries. But for quite some time now there’s been no qualified nurse employed. Instead the injured are mended by the office staff or ferried to a local hospital. With increasing student numbers, these incidents are becoming more frequent and serious. Additionally the student density has a negative effect on the pupils’ personal-social well-being. Gangs and bullying are on the rise.

Also alarming is the fact that students and teachers have no choice but to share the same toilets. It goes without saying, that this opens the door to all kinds of sexual harassment and/or malicious accusations. Many of the cubicles have open ceilings and students have been caught taking picture with their phones of the children in neighboring toilets. This problem has repeatedly been brought to the management’s attention by foreign staff members, to the effect that the single cubicles now have teacher/student and male/female signs. These are generally ignored by the students.

Suspicious students have been singled out for drug testing. Of these, a few where found to be positive. But not all drug users were immediately expelled, as is the school's policy. Foreign staff members have noticed that especially students from families, who have more than one child enrolled, are often treated with more lenience by the management. Also students from more prestigious family backgrounds seem to be favored. In addition, it is standard management practice to promote students who have failed throughout the school year.

TEACHER-MANAGEMENT RELATIONSHIP

The situation for the foreign staff members is dire. Many have difficulties making ends meet. The starting monthly salary is round about $1000. Even though tuition fees have increased significantly over the last few years, this has not been reflected in staff wages. A mere payment rise of $50 was granted two or three years ago which doesn’t even make up for the ongoing Dollar-Kip depreciation. At the same time, housing- as well as all other day-to-day living costs have risen due to local inflation. On the other hand, the school management boasts with lavish spending for unnecessary luxuries, such as exorbitantly priced office furniture, huge private estates and sports cars. Foreign teachers’ opinions, suggestions and especially constructive criticism are generally not welcomed by the management. Staff has been fired as a result of speaking up about issues. Additionally, teachers are given no incentives to develop themselves professionally. Moreover, the manager has a rather blunt sense of discretion. Intimate matters concerning foreign staff and parents are tactlessly passed on to other unconcerned parties.

Confirming what was mentioned in previous postings, the clan running the school has no background in education. Nonetheless, the manager has recently made an effort to obtain a Master's Degree in Education from the National University of Laos. Foreign staff was coerced into writing the thesis. For the ‘help’ at least one was promised a bonus payment.

What has this school done to help your child transition from the curriculum in your home country into the curriculum in your new country? Are there programs to prepare your child for repatriation?

Nothing. No.

How would you describe the social activities available for parents through this school? Are there parent-teacher organizations?

Beginning of the school year, Parents-Teachers' Night

What advice would you give to someone considering enrolling their child in this school?

Judging from my years of work at the school, it has become obvious that the manager's avarice to increase profits has made her turn a blind eye on the quality of education, staff matters, facilities, hygiene, and safety. One doesn't need fortunetelling abilities to see that K.I.S. is a major accident waiting to happen. Comments are appreciated.

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