Following up with the World Conference on Education for All: Meeting Basic Learning Needs (Jomtien, Thailand, March 1990), in August 1990, the Ministry of Education of Lao PDR, held a national meeting. The meeting was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Planning and Finance, the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Information and Culture, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the Lao Women’s Union, and the Youth’s Union. The meeting set forth the needs of the establishment of the National Committee for Education for All. In December 1991, the National Committee for Education for All (NCEFA) was established. The Chairperson of the NCEFA was the Vice-Minister of Education with members from concerned ministries and departments. The NCEFA set up goals and objectives to the year 2000, determined the strategies and the National Action Plan for EFA. The NCEFA also set up guidelines and main measures to be undertaken by the different concerned parties to participate in the EFA action plan according to their respective responsibilities.

On the 4^th February 1997, the Prime Minister issued a decree on the establishment of the National Committee on Basic Education for All. The National Committee on Basic Education for All composed of:

• Central Level:

1. Member of Polit-bureau of the Central Party, Chairperson of the Human Resource Development Central Committee as Chairperson.
2. Minister of Education as Vice-Chairperson.
3. Vice-President of the Lao Front for National Construction as member.
4. Vice-Secretary of the Lao Youth Union as member.
5. Vice-President of the Lao Women’s Union as member.
6. Director of the Pre-school and General Education Department as member and secretariat.
7. Director of the Non-Formal Education Department as member and secretariat.

• Provincial Level:

District Level (same structure as the provincial committee but at

1. The roles and responsibilities of the committee at each level:

Lao People’s Democratic Republic covers an area of 236,800 km² in the center of the Southeast Asian peninsula. It is a landlinked country bordering China and Myanmar in the North, Vietnam in the East, Thailand in the West and with Cambodia in the South. A large part of the country land is mountainous. Mountains and plateaus cover approximately 80% of the country. In the northern and eastern regions, mountains and plateaus above 1000 meters cover about 30%, mountains and plateaus between 200 meters to 1000 meters account for about 50% of the area, and elevation below 200 meters and floodplains compose 20% (Lao Geography, 1989). The country extends over 1,700 km in a north-south direction, with the widest part of the country from east to west, reaching 500 km and the narrowest part, only 150 km wide. It consists of 18 provinces, 141 districts and about 11.697 villages. The provinces can be grouped into three regions: (i) the northern region comprise of Phongsaly, Luangnamtha, Oudomxay, Bokeo, Xayabouly, Luangprabang, and Huaphanh; (ii) the central region comprise of Xiengkhuang, Xaysomboon, Vientiane Province, Vientiane Municipality, Bolikhamxay, Khammuane, and Savannakhet; (iii) the southern region comprise of Champasack, Saravane, Sekong, and Attapeu (see Map).

1. According to the most recent population census, in 1995, the total population of the Lao PDR is 4,574,848. The female:male ratio was 50.6:49.4. The average population density of 19.4 person/km² is relatively low especially in Asia. The population growth rate is 2.6% per year, during the period 1985 to 1995. The recently projected population will reach 5.34 million in the year 2000 and 6.73 million in year 2010.
2. The Lao PDR is a uniquely multi-ethnic state. According to the 1995 population census, the Lao ethnic account for only 52.5% of the nation’s population and are the largest ethnic group in only 8 of 18 provinces, namely Vientiane Municipality 92.6%, Champasack 84.8%, Vientiane province 64.8%, Saravane 60%, Khammuane 59.4%, Savannakhet 57.5%, Xiengkhuang 44.3%, and Attapeu 36.9%. In 10 other provinces ethnic minorities are the plurality. Phutai are the largest ethnic group in 2 provinces namely, Huaphanh 31.5% and Bolikhamxay 41%. Leu are the largest ethnic group in Xayaboury 26.9%. Khmu are the largest ethnic group in 5 provinces, namely Oudomxay 57.7%, Luangprabang 45.9%, Luangnamtha 24.7%, Phonsaly 24.4% and Bokeo 23.8%. Hmong are the largest ethnic group in Xaysomboon 53.7%.
3. In a country as ethnically diverse as the Lao PDR, it is probably impossible to arrive at a classification that captures the true ethnic richness of the country. The existing official classification is by no means definitive nor is it final. The first definitions used by the government classified the population by topography, with three categories: Lao Loum (Lowland Lao), Lao Thueng (Midland Lao or Upland Lao), and Lao Soung (Highland Lao). While this definition is has been used semi-officially, it falls far short of capturing the diversity in the country. The 1995 census categorizes the population into 47 ethnicities and lists 2 groups, "others" and "not stated" who represent 0.2% and 0.5% respectively. In the 47 ethnic groups there are 4 major ethnolinguistic superstocks. These major superstocks are broken down into six main language families (see Chart 1):

• Tai-Kadai comprising Lao-Phoutai (66.2%);
• Austroasiatic comprising Mon-Kmer (22.9%) and Viet-Muang (0.1%);
• Hmong-Yao (7.4%); and
• Sino-Tibetan comprising Tibeto-Burman (2.5%) and Hor (0.2%).

1. Poverty and economic opportunities

1. Although the precise definition of poverty differs from society to society, poverty reflects the lack of access to critical goods and services such as food, shelter, and health care. Poverty is many ways a reflection of the lack of access to education and health care services; the poor suffer from the lack of access, and the lack of access contributes to their poverty.
2. The previous study of poverty is the Lao Expenditure and Consumption Survey (LECS) conducted by the National Statistics Center in 1992-1993. Although this study did not specifically focused on the poverty within different ethnic groups, it is still a useful starting point in measuring poverty throughout the country.

The LECS sample divided the country into three geographic areas: the North, the Center ( including the capital of Vientiane), and the South. Although the population of the Lao PDR is diverse, the North and the South both have a generally high proportion of ethnic minorities.

The information in Table 2 shows the distribution of poverty by these geographic regions, desegregated into urban and rural sectors.

Two separate poverty lines were defined. The first is the basic poverty line, which measures the household’s ability to purchase a variety of goods beyond food and dwelling needs. The second is the extreme poverty line, which measures the household’s ability to purchase only the most absolute necessities: food, shelter, and clothing. The headcount shows the percentage of the population falling into the categories of poverty and extreme poverty. The poverty gap index measures the average transfer of resources that the poor need to escape poverty. It measures the depth of poverty but does not put any special weight on the poorest of the poor.

Using the poverty line, the national incidence of poverty is estimated at 46%, while for rural areas the incidence is 53%. The incidence of poverty is 53%in the rural North, 47% in the Center, and 66% in the South. Extreme poverty is especially prevalent in the South. As is common in most countries, poverty is far more common in rural areas than in urban areas. Indeed, the level of urban extreme poverty is quite low.

The poverty gap index confirms the general trends in the head count ratio. The South is the poorest region, with especially heavy poverty in the rural areas. Since the survey did not identify poverty by ethnicity, it is difficult to make many inferences about poverty among ethnic minorities. However, poverty is highest in areas that also have a large proportion of ethnic minorities.

1. Often the most serious limitations to access, and hence the most severe forms of poverty, are economic in nature. On the supply side, the scarcity of funds may result in entire communities that lack basic services. The nearest social service may be prohibitively distant.
2. Even where services are available, members of ethnic minority groups may face severe economic constraints, caused by low income. This may manifest itself through the inability to pay for services or through other effects of low income, such as malnutrition.

10. However, economic conditions are not the only factors that influence access. Many other factors contribute to the constraints of access and the use of social services by ethnic minorities. Some of these factors have a very definite economic interpretation, whereas others are more clearly related to cultural and political barriers.

1. General Education: General education consists of:

a. Pre-school which consists of créche for children ages 0-2, and Kindergarten for children ages 3-5.

b. Primary Education consists of 5 years of schooling for children from

6 -10 years and is compulsory.

c. Lower secondary education covers 3 years of schooling and for children of ages 11– 13.

d. Upper secondary education is three years of schooling, accepting children of ages 14-16.

2. Vocational Education (including teacher training):

1. Teacher Training

Secondary students who want to become teachers have five options. To become a preschool teacher, they can enroll in a one-year program at the end of upper secondary school (11+1). To become a primary teacher they can enroll in a three-year training course at the end of lower secondary school (8+3 option) or they can enroll in a one-year training program at the end of upper secondary (11+1 option). To teach at the lower secondary level, they can enroll in a three-year training program upon completion of the upper secondary school (11+3 option). To teach upper secondary, they must enroll in the Faculty of Education at the University of Laos (11+4 option).

The consolidation and strengthening of teacher training has been a national priority throughout the 1990s, with considerable success. In the late 80s, teacher training was provided by 59 small training schools that had little common curriculum and offered generally low quality preparation. In the mid-1990s, the MOE raised the minimum educational requirements for primary and secondary teachers and began closing and consolidating these small schools into larger teacher training centers. These larger centers were able to achieve economies of scale and offer a stronger, more consistent training program. By 1998 the 59 schools had been reduced to 10 (plus the Faculty of Education at the National University).

Teacher training colleges (TTCs) are under the general supervision of the Department of Teacher Education within the Ministry of Education. Each school has a Director who oversees the operation of the school. The Faculty of Education at the National University of Laos Reports to the Ministry through the Rector of the University.

2. Higher Education: Students who are admitted to higher education courses have completed grade eleven. They study in each faculty for 4-7 years depending on the subject area. For example, Engineering takes 7 years and to become a medical doctor takes 6-7 years.

The objective of the non-formal education system is to provide learning activities to meet the needs of adults to acquire knowledge and skills. Considering the isolation in many parts of countries and the years of fighting and involuntary migration, there is a large group of adults who have limited or no formal education. The Non-Formal Education policy of the MOE targets on 3 age groups:

• those between the ages of 6-14, who are not attending schools;
• those between 15-25 years of age who do not have definite vocations; and
• those between the ages of 15-40 who are illiterate and have not completed primary school, or those over 40 years old who are interested.

Until recently, the major components of non-formal education were literacy programs and formal education equivalency programs for adults, with a particular focus on government personnel and staff. While these programs still operate, non-formal education also focuses on other educational needs outside of the formal education system. The non-formal education system provides a combination of anti-literacy and basic education for the illiterate, and programs to raise the education levels of the population. It has a particular focus on vulnerable groups: the poor, women, and ethnic minorities. The activities and goals for non-formal education are:

• Eradication of illiteracy for the population countrywide, especially for women and ethnic minorities in remote areas;
• Raising the primary and secondary levels of education for government employees, military personnel, police; and
• In conjunction with the two responsibilities above, the promotion of basic vocation for educationally disadvantaged and low-income populations, in order to increase income levels and to improve livelihood.

In conjunction with its activities to raise the education levels of the population with some basic education, the non-formal education department of the Ministry of Education maintains an equivalency program for adults (Table 3). There is an accelerated program for senior officials. This program presents 3 months curriculum for each grade and is not intended for university enrollment, but for education equivalence purpose only.

In addition to the equivalency curriculum, the NFE department also has developed special curriculum for vocational training (i.e. sewing and weaving and many other supplementary materials). NFE with the assistance of GTZ are in the process of developing vocational training curriculum. Also with the assistance of UNESCO the NFE is developing a curriculum for distance education. The continuing education curriculum for lower and upper secondary has also been developed.

In the Lao PDR, the administration and management of education consists of three levels:

• At the central level, the Ministry of Education government staff determines policy guidelines, strategy, law, regulations, rules, monitoring and control of education.
• At the provincial level, the Provincial Education Service (PES) implements education policy guidelines, programmes, and projects defined by the Ministry of Education for the province.
• At the district level, the District Education Bureau (DEB) implements, and manages primary schools and kindergartens in each district.
• Non- Formal education or adult education provides education to 15-40 years old population group.

KEY POLICIES IN EDUCATION

Human Resources Development Policies

The Leading Committee of Human Resource Development (LCHRD) was established in November 1993. The Lao Government has highlighted the importance of this committee by appointing the Head of the Party’s Organizational Central Committee as chairperson and including several ministers as members. The duties of the LCHRD are to draw plans, policies, projects, and measures to implement human resource development, monitor and direct the implementation, and to study, analyze, and resolve problems in the implementation. The LCHRD has a permanent secretariat to implement its daily duties. The following is the Government’s definition of human resource development (HRD):

HRD is a constant development of a human being for the development itself, starting with birth (i.e. starting from the family planning) to the last minute of life. In each stage of the life cycle, there should be attention and concern placed to each aspect of the human life, particularly from whether there will be live birth which is related to family planning activities and then maternal and child care activities to assure child survival. Once a child was born, the new born baby should receive hygienic and sanitary care, immunization and good nutrition. In the next stage of life cycle, the child should receive education; especially in Lao PDR, this is basic education for all, followed by secondary education, vocational, technical and tertiary education or short term training courses or skill development courses for upgrading the technical capabilities in different disciplines. For those who are without formal schooling, they should be educated through informal education starting from eradication of illiteracy to the level equivalent to completion of higher secondary school. Concurrently with the provision of scientific-technical education, the population should also be provided with education and training on the value and significance of the national tradition, custom, art and culture in order to gain understanding of development along the era, to cultivate the senses of a human being, the values of lives and preferences which are in conformance with the development of the country in a progressive and continuous manner. During his/her lifetime, a person should be entitled to an appropriate remuneration for his/her work in order to enjoy a proper life, appropriate welfare policies, a pension at old age retirement, and proper allowances to the spouse and children, when that person dies. From the above reasons, it could be seen that human resource development is a broad activity involved activities in the areas of development and training of man power, education, labor and social welfare, public health, culture and information, science and technology, and environment, and youth, women, worker and ethnic minorities development

The definition states that HDR is a life long process, intended to create citizens who live good lives(i.e. enjoying health, having access and quality education and opportunities for employment, and contributing productively to society). The definition involves the whole Services Development, which is not in the list of the seven priorities of the national socio-economic development plan.

In August 1996, a National Review Conference on HRD was held. The conference identified both progress and weaknesses in the sector. The major weaknesses causing obstacles identified in the conference were problems reaching remote rural areas and the heavy bureaucracy still in place. To counter these weaknesses, more attention needs to be paid to HRD, the planning must be better and more coordinated, training sessions should be continuous and coordinated, mobilization and management of funds needs to be more efficient and also equitable. HRD efforts were identified:

• Formation and training of civil servants
• Quality of education
• Building of labor force
• Culture and information
• Health
• Mass organizations: Youth, Women, Trade Union, National Front.

• Determine the role and function of education toward the cause of national development.
• Link education with socio-economical goals and two strategic tasks.
• Encourage the general population to achieve primary education level.
• Upgrade the quality and efficiency of education.
• Raise prestige of teachers-professors in the society.
• Mandate contributions from the entire society toward education.
• Enhance the management of administrative committees toward educational work

• Enforce compulsory education for children and youth by using mainly the State fund.
• Completely eradicate illiteracy among the illiterates and neo illiterates.
• Promote and expand private education both formal and vocational.
• Reorganize the lower and upper secondary schools, and vocational schools in consistence with the actual capacity of the country and give examination at every level.
• Develop personnel for all socio-economic sectors and not only for state apparatus.
• Gradually raise the quality of education to an international standard.
• Expand education to reach the remote, isolated, and mountainous areas, build ethnic boarding schools in certain appropriate areas to establish conditions for children of the ethnic minorities to attend schools.
• Improve the system of monks’ education by providing knowledge in dharma, linguistics, and literature and clearly outline policies for monks’ education.

Overall targets:

• Expand and improve crèches, kindergartens according to the capacity of each locality.
• Expand primary education to be able to accept more children at the age of schooling from 63% (1990) to 80% (2000) while reducing class repetition and school drop-outs. The anticipated outcome is to increase the rate of surviving students enrolling in grade 1 to grade 5 from 27% (1990) to 63% (2000).
• Expand and improve lower and upper secondary schools to be able to accept more students: first year lower secondary from 30% (1990) to 40% (2000) and upper secondary school from 12% (1990) to 17% (2000).
• Eradicate illiteracy among the population and the re-illiterates of 15 to 40 years old to increase the literacy rate from 60% (1990) to 80% (2000); provide training and upgrade the recent graduates of illiteracy class to primary level to reach 50% of the total number, and offer the general population necessary basic skills training.
• Encourage private sectors to establish more schools, particularly vocational training schools, and improve the management and monitoring system.
• Develop and train teachers to satisfy the requirements of the expansion of formal education, aiming to produce teachers equipped with good personality, good level of knowledge, and good moral values, who will be responsible toward their duties, strive to overcome all difficulties, enjoy their profession, and have affection for children; increase student per teacher ratio: primary school from 28:1 (1990) to 33:1 (2000); lower secondary school from 13:1 (1990) to 25:1 (2000); and upper secondary school from 12:1 (1990) to 25:1 (2000).
• Expand and reorganize vocational schools and tertiary facilities to conform with the actual capacity, and establish National University and Polytechnic colleges in each region of the country to supply labor force for socio-economic development.
• Steadily raise the quality of all levels of education, particularly the formal education that is the basic fundamental of the national education system.

The following are the general principles stated in Chapter I of the decree:

• Article 1: Primary education is one of the levels integrated in general education with 5-year schooling system. It is the basic level of education that needs to be completed by all the Lao citizens.
• Article 2: All Lao citizens regardless of race, religion, sex, ethnicity, social and economic status residing in Lao PDR with the ages ranging from 6 years onwards by December of each academic year must receive primary education thoroughly and equally.
• Article 3: All pupils whose enrollment is stipulated in Article 2 must complete their schooling. If not they shall otherwise continue the schooling without dropping out or leaving school until the age of 14, except for those with physical and mental health problem and cannot continue their schooling even though sufficient care has already been provided.
• Article 4: Education services can be provided in the form of either public or private; however, the content must be ensured with the aim to develop children physically and mentally with high capability in comply with the curriculum designed by the Ministry of Education.
• Article 5: The Government and the people will join efforts to be responsible for education management and services in all public primary schools. The services in schools are free of charge.

1. EFA goals and targets

• Primary Education.
• To increase the net enrolment of six-year-old children to 80 % and gradually reduce the attendance of over-aged children.
• To reduce the repetition and dropout rates and increase retention rate from 40% to 80%.
• To improve pupil performance by upgrading the quality of teaching and the teaching contents, and thus enable the student to gain knowledge and skills relevant to the needs of the community.
• Non-formal Education or Adult Education.
• To provide opportunities for people of all ethnic groups ages 15-40 years who are illiterates or have relapsed into illiteracy to become literate, increase the number of literacy rate among this population age group from 60% in 1990 to 80% by the year 2000.
• To allow up to 50% of the new literates to continue in complementary education to acquire basic education and vocational skills that would enable them to contribute in the development of the communities.
• To raise the level and quality of education of the learners.

                        2.   EFA Strategies and Plan of Action

Strategies on raising the enrolment rate.

• Promote primary education in an extensive way in order to carry out the compulsory primary education principle.
• Recognize the need for primary school networks to create favorable condition for better student enrolment and access.
• Continue to undertake multi-grade teaching in the remote rural areas and the double-shift system in urban area where the density of the population is high so as to remedy the shortage of classrooms.
• Provide more incentives for teachers especially those who are assigned or who volunteers to teach in remote rural areas; and
• Establish and support the activities of Students’ Parent Associations and mass organizations which work for the promotion of basic education for all.

• Take measures to encourage regular class attendance of students
• Include programmes on sanitation, vaccinations and primary health care, nutrition… etc in the curriculum.
• Automatic promotion during the first three years of schooling and yearly revisions of examinations for promotion to the higher grades.
• Make schools more attractive and provide more basic teaching materials.

• Improve the relevance of the curriculum, the textbooks, the teaching materials and make them more responsive to the real situation in the regions.
• Review the control principles of examinations used to ensure the regular and continuous learning of the students; and
• Improve the skills of teachers by organizing training programs for their upgrading and strengthening the supervision system both from outside (district) and inside the school cluster.

• Setting up the school maps and organize the primary school clusters in order to share more effectively all available facilities (personnel and material);
• Improving the organization and school management system;
• Setting up the Education Management Information System (EMIS).

• Admit a certain number of disabled children in the formal mainstream general education schools, and request teachers to pay special attention to handicapped students.
• Set up an experimental class for handicaps who need special curriculum (e.g. for blind people);
• Identify and examine the mentally and physically handicapped children from the beginning in order to orient them properly; and
• Set up training for special education teachers.

                  3. EFA Decision making and management

• The Minister of Education, Chairperson
• Department of General Education
• Department of Non-formal Education
• Department of Planning and Cooperation
• Department of Teacher Training
• The State Planning Committee
• The Ministry of Public Health
• The Ministry of Finance
• The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry
• The Ministry of Industry and Handicraft
• The Lao Women’s Union
• The Federation of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Youth