The Education System in Lao People's Democratic Republic

It is in the 17th century that traditional temple schools were established to give young boys a Buddhist education. It brought basic literacy to the Lao territories. Of the many ethnic groups in Laos, only the Lao Loum had a tradition of formal education, reflecting the fact that the languages of the other groups had no written script. The monks taught novices and other boys to read both Lao and Pali scripts, basic arithmetic, and other religious and social subjects. There are some villages that have wat schools for novices while other villages have boys.

Under French rule, from 1893 to 1953, education was limited to urban elite. The royal Lao Government or RLG developed a modern education system with a Lao curriculum, but even so it catered to only about one-third of the school-age population. In 1970, about one-third of the civilian employees of the royal Lao Government were teachers, although the majority of these were poorly paid and minimally trained elementary teachers. In 1975, when the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party came to power, the government placed great emphasis on education, particularly on eradication of illiteracy. It had few resources and standards fell.