Parents’ old beliefs see Lao rural girls denied education

Fongsavanh explained through collecting education information in her province’s rural areas that girls in remote areas often stay at home to take care of their younger brothers or sisters rather than going to school.

Girls are still failing to attend school as parents among ethnic groups have not discarded their old beliefs that girls’ education is less important than boys.

It is commonly believed that girls should stay at home to help their parents do the housework, cook or even help them to plant vegetables in their gardens instead of going to school. 

Fongsavanh gave an example of a rural woman who has two sons and a daughter she must earn more than 300,000 kip (Bt1,278) per month to support her children at school.

Last year, she made a decision to take her daughter out of school because she thinks she will not be poor once she has found a husband.

She said education is more important for the boys who will take care of their parents in the future.

As result of old principles, Phongsavanh said many parents in remote areas across the country are pushing their girls to drop out of school.

“Some girls that I found and interviewed cried when their parents forced them to leave school as they wanted to continue learning as well as enjoy time with their friends at school,” Fongsavanh said.

However, she stressed that due to a family’s poverty, parents don’t have much money to support their children, and sons often will be chosen to continue studying rather than girls.

“It is true that some rural parents have still not discarded their old thoughts that girls will not be able to achieve high positions or good jobs like boys when they grow up, said Lia Yang, an official at Xaysomboun province’s non-formal education sector.

Girls will be forced to leave school to help their parents to plant crops or taking care of housework, he recounted recently during a ceremony to mark the completion of a Primary Education Equivalency Programme in Vientiane.

Some rural girls only have the chance to study at primary school or lower secondary school before they leave school to look for other jobs or help their parents at home.

Some get married at just 16 years of age, when they should be enjoying time with their friends at school. However, Lia Yang said he hopes that his sector can continue to work with parents to make sure all children in the province at least complete primary school as per the government’s policy.

He is aware that this will be the biggest challenge facing the Ministry of Education and Sports and its development partners to work together with the provinces to ensure that many more children complete primary school as well as pushing them on to higher education.

Currently, about 83 per cent of all children attend primary school in his community.

Girls in remote areas still have more limited chances than boys to receive an education because of their families’ poverty.

This remains a challenge when it comes to encouraging equality between boys and girls to wipe out illiteracy and promoting higher education.

However, 96 per cent of people in Xaysomboun province aged between 15-45 years old have now escaped illiteracy or completed the primary education equivalency programme, leaving only 4 per cent in remote areas. That is only one aspect of the educational overhaul to eliminate illiteracy, but many underprivileged children are still looking forward to the day when they can continue on to higher education.

“Consequently, it is time for us to fight for all children in remote areas so that they receive a better education,” Lia said.

According to its report last year, the gap between male and female enrolment for higher education has narrowed, from 7 per cent to 2 per cent. Despite this, expansion of primary and secondary education, and improvements in literacy rates, especially for women, are still high priorities to ensure women and girls can enjoy their educational experience for a longer period.

 VIENTIANE TIMES