PHNOM PENH, May 19 (Bernama) — Children from low-income households in Laos continue to face barriers in accessing basic education.
The World Bank’s latest data revealed that as of January 2025, 11.4 per cent of school-age children from disadvantaged backgrounds were not enrolled in school.
This figure is more than double the 4.5 per cent rate observed among their peers from wealthier families.
Laos, one of the five socialist countries in the world, continues to face socio-economic challenges, including rising inflation, currency depreciation, poverty, and a weak labour market.
The inflation level in the landlocked country is around 11 per cent as of March, while the per capita income is about RM37,500 (US$8,700).
While access to basic education has improved over the years, schooling remains a distant dream to underprivileged groups.
Families continue to face difficulties in enrolling their children in schools due to the rising cost of living and limited income.
“The transformation of the labour market in Laos is astonishingly quick,” World Bank Country Manager for Laos Alex Kremer said in a statement last week.
“Three years of high inflation and currency depreciation have reshaped work choices, eroded household living standards, accelerated migration, and undermined human capital development.
“The findings of this survey (Household Welfare Monitoring survey) suggest that families have depleted their assets and may eventually run out of coping mechanisms,” he said.
Low-income countries allocate a meagre US$55 per year per student, according to the global financial institution.
Over 250 million children are currently out of school worldwide.
Seven in 10 children in low- and middle-income countries cannot read or understand a simple paragraph by the age of 10, warned the World Bank.
“Around a third of households (in Laos) have reduced spending on food, health and education, a trend that poses serious challenges for poverty reduction efforts,” said a January 2025 World Bank survey.
The country’s economy, which supports seven million people, is driven by tourism, transport, electricity generation, mining, agriculture, and manufacturing sectors.
— BERNAMA