Education in Lao PDR

Lao PDR’s education and sports sector development plan 2021-25 has been developed at a critical and difficult time due to COVID-19. Its overall objective is to develop human resources with knowledge, skills and values to be a quality workforce that can meet the demands of a growing and sustainable economy.

The plan focuses on reducing disparities among girls and boys, ethnic groups, the rich and the poor, particularly across disadvantaged districts.

The plan’s priorities are to:

• Refocus the sectoral priority on primary education to improve content knowledge and pedagogical skills of primary teachers.
• Expand access to lower secondary make it more affordable, effective, and realistic.
• Realign the skills and competencies of the ministry of education’s staff to meet the current and foreseen needs of the system more effectively.
• Provide institutional strengthening to the provincial education and sports service, district education and sports bureau, clusters and schools to enhance their efficiency, effectiveness and accountability through realigning their mandates, roles and responsibilities.
• Enhance learning outcomes and reduce disparities through more effective and efficient management of resources through targeting improved education performance particularly in the 40 most disadvantaged districts, as identified by the Ministry of Education.
• Provide enhanced post-basic education contributing to and supporting the social and economic priorities of the previous education sector plan.

• Lao PDR is part of the KIX Europe, Asia and Pacific regional hub and has a KIX national delegation.
• KIX 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
  • Data-Driven School Improvement - Opportunities, Challenges, and Scalable Solutions
  • Using data for improving education equity and inclusion – MICS-EAGLE