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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Laos
Index
An important goal of the LPDR government was to
establish a
system of universal primary education by 1985. The LPDR
took over
the existing RLG education system that had been
established in
1950s and restructured it, facing many of the same
problems that
had also confronted previous governments. The French
system of
education was replaced with a Laotian curriculum, although
lack of
teaching materials has impeded effective instruction. An
intensive
adult literacy campaign was initiated in 1983-84, which
mobilized
educated persons living in villages and urban
neighborhoods to
bring basic reading and writing skills to over 750,000
adults.
Largely as a result of this campaign, those able to read
and write
had increased to an estimated 44 percent. According to the
United
Nations (UN), by 1985 those able to read and write were
estimated
at 92 percent of men and 76 percent of women of the
fifteen to
forty-five age-group. Because few reading materials are
available,
especially in the rural areas, many newly literate adults
lose much
of their proficiency after a few years.
The decision to establish universal education led the
government to focus its efforts on building and staffing
schools in
nearly every village. Because resources are limited, most
schools
are poorly constructed--of bamboo and thatch--and staffed
by only
one or two teachers who are paid low wages, usually in
arrears.
Many village schools have only one or two grades, and
books, paper,
or other teaching materials are conspicuous by their
scarcity.
School enrollment has increased since 1975. In 1988
primary
school enrollment was estimated at 63 percent of all
school-age
children. In 1992-93 an estimated 603,000 students were in
primary
school, compared to 317,000 students in 1976 and 100,000
students
in 1959. However, the goal of achieving universal primary
education
was postponed from 1985 to 2000 as a result of the lack of
resources.
Because teachers are paid irregularly, they are forced
to spend
significant amounts of time farming or in other livelihood
activities, with the result that in many locations classes
are
actually held for only a few hours a day. Because of
irregular
classes, overcrowding, and lack of learning resources, the
average
student needed eleven to twelve years to complete the
five-year
primary course in the late 1980s. Repetition rates ranged
from 40
percent for the first grade to 14 percent for the fifth
grade.
Dropouts also were a significant problem, with 22 percent
of all
entering first graders leaving school before the second
grade. In
the late 1980s, only 45 percent of entering first graders
completed
all five years of primary school, up from 18 percent in
1969.
Performance statistics vary according to rural-urban
location,
ethnic group, and gender. Enrollment and school quality
are higher
in urban areas, where the usefulness of a formal education
is more
evident than in rural farming communities. Isolated
teachers
confronted with primitive rural living and teaching
conditions have
a difficult time maintaining their own commitment as well
as the
interest of their pupils. Ethnic minority students who
have no
tradition of literacy and who do not speak Lao have a
particularly
difficult time. Unless the teacher is of the same or
similar ethnic
group as the students, communication and culturally
appropriate
education are limited. Because of these factors, in the
late 1980s
the enrollment rate for the Lao Sung was less than half
that of the
Lao Loum; enrollment was also low for Lao Theung children.
Girls are less likely than boys to attend school and
attend for
fewer years--a discrepancy that was declining, however, in
the
early 1990s. In 1969 only 37 percent of students in
primary school
were girls; by 1989, however, 44 percent of primary school
students
were girls. Because of Lao Sung cultural attitudes toward
girls'
and women's responsibilities, girls in these groups
accounted for
only 26 percent of all students.
Secondary education enrollment has expanded since 1975
but as
of mid-1994 is still limited in availability and scope. In
1992-93
only about 130,000 students were enrolled in all
postprimary
programs, including lower- and upper-secondary schools,
vocational
programs, and teacher-training schools. The exodus of
Laotian elite
after 1975 deprived vocational and secondary schools of
many of
their staff, a situation that was only partly offset by
students
returning from training in socialist countries. Between
1975 and
1990, the government granted over 14,000 scholarships for
study in
at least eight socialist countries; just over 7,000 were
to the
Soviet Union, followed by 2,500 to Vietnam, and 1,800 to
the German
Democratic Republic (East Germany).
In mid-1994 the school year was nine-months. The ideal
sequence
included five years of primary school, followed by three
years of
lower-secondary school and three years of upper-secondary
school.
Some students go directly from primary or lower-secondary
school to
vocational instruction, for example, in teacher-training
schools or
agriculture schools.
Local secondary education is concentrated in the
provincial
capitals and some district centers. Dropout rates for
students at
secondary and technical schools are not as high as among
primary
students, but the gender and ethnic group differentials
are more
pronounced. In the late 1980s, only 7 percent of
lower-secondary
students were Lao Sung or Lao Theung, a rate that dropped
to 3
percent in upper-secondary school. For most students who
do not
live in a provincial center, attendance at secondary
school
requires boarding away from home in makeshift facilities.
This
situation further discourages students in rural areas from
pursuing
further education, with additional differential impacts on
girls
and minorities. Vientiane has the majority of advanced
schools,
including the national teachers' training school at Dong
Dok, the
irrigation college at Tad Thong, the agriculture college
at Na
Phok, the National Polytechnic Institute, and the
University of
Medical Sciences. Even so, the level of training available
at these
schools is low.
In 1986 the government began to reform the education
system,
with the goals of linking educational development more
closely to
the socioeconomic situation in each locality, improving
science
training and emphasis, expanding networks to remote
mountainous
regions, and recruiting minority teachers. The plan
envisioned
making education more relevant to daily realities and
building
increased cooperation in educational activities among the
various
ministries, mass organizations, and the community.
However, the
ability to implement this program through its scheduled
completion
in 2000 depends on a significant budgetary increase to the
educational sector in addition to receiving significant
foreign
aid. Education accounted for only 8 percent of government
expenditures in 1988, down from a 10 to 15 percent range
during the
preceding seven-year period, and cultural expenditures
also were
not accorded a high priority.
Although more school texts and general magazines are
being
printed, poor distribution systems and budgetary
constraints limit
their availability throughout the country
(see Mass Media
, ch. 4).
Overall, 3.9 million books were printed in 1989, including
school
texts published by the Ministry of Education, and novels,
stories,
and poems published by the Ministry of Information and
Culture.
Translations into Lao of various Russian-language
technical,
literary, and children's books were available through the
Novosti
press agency. Virtually all these materials are
inexpensive
paperbound editions. Distribution of school texts is
improving, and
magazines and novels can occasionally be found in district
markets
distant from Vientiane. Thai printed material--for the
most part,
magazines and books--was available after the late 1980s in
a few
shops. Yet, in the early 1990s, it was rare to see a book
or any
other reading material in rural villages, with the
exception of
political posters or a months-old edition of the newspaper
Xieng
Pasason (Voice of the People) pasted on a house wall.
Data as of July 1994
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