Lao PDR follows a 5+4+3 system, or a 12 year curriculum where the first 5 years are considered primary, the following 4 are lower secondary and the last 3 are upper secondary. Primary education in Lao is witnessing high enrolment rates, nearing gender parity, however, quality of primary education is still a major concern. Enrolment rates in lower and upper secondary education are far lower, despite significant expansion over the last decade. Those in rural areas and ethnic minorities are the least likely to have access to secondary education (UNESCO 2008).
Net enrolment rates in Lao primary schools rose from 80% in 2001 to 91.6% in 2009 (UNDP n.d.). However, these aggregate figures mask significant urban/rural disparities and approximately 10% of all villages are still without a primary school within a reasonable commute. Almost 57% of all primary schools, and an estimated 70% of primary schools in the poorest districts, are incomplete schools, which do not offer the full five grades of primary education. Low population density and remoteness make the provision of cost-effective and sustainable education services difficult in some rural areas. Thus, children in the poorest areas, particularly girls and non-Lao-Tai ethnic groups, are distinctly disadvantaged in terms of limited access to education (UNESCO 2008). While the root causes are poverty-related, other factors also contribute to low enrolment rates, including the low quality of teaching and learning and cultural beliefs that place a low value on girls learning in school (Save the Children n.d.).
The disparities between different sub-groups (male/female, urban/rural, Lao-Thai/non-Lao-Thai, and poor/non-poor) become even wider at secondary level. Between 2005 and 2009, the net enrolment rate was 39% for boys and 33% or girls (UNICEF 2011). In addition, male and female, urban and rural members of the Lao-Tai ethnic groups generally have the highest rates of enrolment in lower secondary school. By contrast, both male and female, rural, low-income non-Lao-Tai ethnic groups fare very poorly and display enrolment rates far lower than their urban compatriots. Minority poor rural females are particularly disadvantaged, with significantly lower secondary enrolment rates (UNESCO 2008).
General education in Lao PDR is facing several issues. According to the most recent statistics, the survival rate to grade 5 is 67% (2007) and the percentage of repeaters at primary level is 17% (2008) (UIS 2009). Drop-out rates are 13% in grade 1 and 7% in grade 2 (Save the Children n.d.). At secondary level, the drop-out rates are 14% for males and females in grade 6, and 15% for males and 12% for females in grade 9 (UNESCO 2008). High drop-out and repetition rates can be attributed to several factors, one being that children from ethnic groups do not speak the language of instruction, Lao, as their mother tongue, which hinders their performance in school. In addition to the issue of language, drop-out rates are also exacerbated by the low quality of teaching and the difficulty ethnic children face in transitioning into a formalized education system (Save the Children n.d.).
There is also a significant shortage of primary and lower secondary teachers, even though the teacher education institutions have trained enough primary teachers to meet demand. The reasons for the continuing shortage include limitations placed on the quota of new teachers that can be recruited each year, inefficient deployment, limitations of provincial allocations and teachers leaving the profession for many reasons. The lack of teachers is particularly acute in remote areas where ethnic groups live and especially in poor districts. In addition, a recent study showed that teachers’ salaries were below subsistence level and they were often paid three and four months late. Consequently, many teachers teach less than their official number of instructional hours as they often have outside employment to compensate for their low wages (UNESCO 2008).
The Ministry of Education shares it responsibilities for general education with the Provincial Education Service (PES) and the District Education Bureaus (DEB). Each PES is responsible for secondary level institutions and vocational institutions while each DEB are in charge of pre-primary, primary and non-formal education institutions within its own area. Communities often take initiatives to support both primary and secondary education and in some cases, this extends to construction and maintenance of school facilities, employment of teachers and partial salary payments for teachers contracted by the communities. The DEBs are also responsible for the administration of the examination in primary schools and admission of lower secondary schools. The PES on the other hand oversees the examinations in lower secondary schools and admission to upper secondary schools. Upper (general) secondary school examinations are administered and assessed at the national level by the MoES (IBE 2011).
The Education Sector Development Framework (ESDF) 2009-15 proposes measures for better harmonization of external assistance to the sector and a shared commitment to mobilizing the necessary resources for reducing funding gaps. It also strives to implement universal primary education by 2015 and a gradual expansion of secondary education and an overall improvement in the quality of education. Other immediate priorities are to: (i) expand the number of classrooms nationwide; (ii) recruit qualified and trained teachers to meet the needs of an expanding secondary school system and to ensure that all settlements and villages have access to a primary school; (iii) ensure that education officers are 10 adequately trained to support education service delivery at all levels of education administration; and (iv) that ESDF priority action is directed to Lao PDR’s 47 poorest districts (MoE 2009).
