Education in Lao People's Democratic Republic

Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) has increased participation in pre-primary education and student assessment results in later years have been on the rise. However, most children continue to demonstrate low literacy and numeracy skills, and there are significant disparities linked to socioeconomic status and ethnicity.

Without basic skills, it is difficult for students to progress through the education system, which results in high dropout. Lao PDR’s Partnership Compact describes how the government is working with GPE and other partners to improve foundational learning outcomes for all and support students in lower secondary.

The reform will expand ongoing interventions with proven effectiveness to improve the school readiness of children ages 3 to 5 belonging to communities that do not speak the primary Lao language and from poor or disadvantaged households.

Interventions support parenting skills, improve children’s reading readiness, increase the availability of teaching and learning materials, and train teachers. To sustain gains in pre-literacy and pre-numeracy, Lao PDR will increase the number of primary teachers with skills to implement the curriculum and multi-grade teaching and use assessment tools and inclusive education approaches.

Efforts to improve transition to and retention in lower secondary include supporting girls’ education and improving access to remedial education. Better teacher workforce planning and management is expected to enhance system capacity to deliver quality education.

• Lao PDR is part of the KIX Europe, Asia and Pacific regional hub and has a KIX national delegation.
• KIX ongoing research projects:
  • Data Must Speak about Positive Deviance Approaches to Learning
  • Adapting, testing and scaling a proven summer pre-primary education model in Cambodia, Lao PDR and Tanzania
  • Using data for improving education equity and inclusion – MICS-EAGLE

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