Free meals to attract Laotian children to school

Lytou Buapao, Deputy Minister for Education, told the Radio Free Asia that the peasant families "consider the child as an aid to family work." For this "we need to make it clear to parents that education is a right for every child and that if the poor do not attend school, they will not learn anything nor will they learn an occupation" other than that of their parents.  

In Laos, out of 7 million inhabitants, only 69% are literate, 78% of the population works in agriculture and has an annual per capita income of 7.65 dollars, about 40 euro cents per month. Many people live in remote mountainous areas north and south of the country. It is even more difficult to make parents understand the importance of schooling for their daughters.

This is why schools offer, when possible, free lunch or snacks to pupils. Although even this is difficult, because the country has insufficient funds, and generally can only do so with the help of international donors. When possible, it also gives the girls an extra ration of food to take home, just to convince families to send them to school too. Child malnutrition is another unresolved problem, especially in remote provinces such as Attapeu in the south. Despite the efforts of government and international donors, the problem remains, and according to official figures malnutrition increased from 47.3% of children in 1993 to 40.7% in 2000 and 40.4% in 2006.

The deputy minister said that "school is compulsory and free until the 5th grade. But the high costs for books and stationery and general scarcity of teachers in rural areas, prevent many children from going to school, "although there are" big differences between different ethnic groups. "

Another problem is that in many areas they speak a language other than Lao, that for small school goers is as foreign as French or English. Now the government, with the help of the United Nations, has sent bilingual teachers to hundreds of schools in rural areas, who also speak the local language, thus helping children who do not know Lao.