More than 5,000 children dropped out of school last year in Bokeo province
The education department in Laos’s northernmost province released alarming data. The problem is not new; last summer, Laotian Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone announced several measures to counter school dropout. University enrolments are also down, still below pre-COVID-19 levels.
Vientiane (AsiaNews/Agencies) – In Bokeo, a province in northern Laos, more than 5,000 children dropped out of school during the 2023-2024 school year, the provincial Department of Education and Sports said during an annual meeting organised by the Ministry of Education.
According to a report provided by the provincial administration, 2,772 primary and secondary school students dropped out of school in 2023, while 3,009 did the same in 2024, for a total of 5,781. In addition, enrolment in provincial high schools was down by 654 over the previous year.
The numbers have alarmed local authorities, who blame several factors, like the distance of schools from children’s home, the lack of student dorms, the shortage of qualified teachers in rural areas, the economic difficulties of families who push children to work, and the belief that higher education is not useful.
Crossed by the Mekong River and home to different ethnic groups, Bokeo is Laos’s smallest province and the least populated. To cope with the situation, local authorities have come up with some strategies to address the problem of school dropout, which is not new in Laos.
The provincial department plans, for example, to allocate farmland to create job opportunities and reduce household poverty, thus reducing the need for children to help their family financially, as well provide incentives to motivate students and monitor their class attendance.
In July last year, the Laotian Prime Minister, Sonexay Siphandone, said that he wanted to financially help the families of disadvantaged children; at the same time, the government would enact a law to hold parents accountable for the completion of their children’s education.
The high school dropout rate is also a direct consequence of the difficulties related to the COVID-19 pandemic. A UNICEF paper shows lower enrolment, ranging from 0.7 per cent to 2.7 per cent, in 2022, depending on the different levels of education, with only 77 per cent of children completing primary school, the same level as in 2015-16.
University numbers are not doing much better. A report by the Ministry of Education notes that out of more than 49,000 high school graduates, fewer than 10,000 enrolled in university in 2023, the lowest number since 2018.
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