Laos’ largest province is short 500 teachers

Laos’ most-populous province is short more than 500 teachers for the new school year starting this month, even as the central government slashes jobs to reduce the country’s enormous debt.

The two problems can be traced to the economic crisis gripping Laos amid soaring inflation and living costs, a declining currency, poor job prospects and swelling debt from dams and other infrastructure projects.

More than 300 teachers in Savannakhet province recently retired, Gov. Bounhom Oubonpaseuth said at a Sept. 9 meeting with other high-ranking provincial officials. That number includes volunteer teachers who help staff many classrooms.

In Laos’ centrally planned economy, school staff are government employees, and many young people work as volunteer teachers in classrooms until there is an opening for salaried staff.

But rampant inflation has made it less likely that volunteers will be offered a full-time state teaching job, and more volunteer educators have been walking away from the profession.

Interior Minister Vilayvong Boutdakham told lawmakers in the capital Vientiane last week that the government must cut more than 3,000 positions for nurses, teachers and other state workers by the end of 2025.

The lack of teachers has been a growing issue in Savannakhet – with more than 1 million inhabitants – and elsewhere in the country since at least 2017, when the national government began reducing state employee quotas because of its shrinking budget.

One teacher for several classrooms

Earlier this year, the province began paying a living allowance of 1.5 million kip (US$68) a month to volunteer teachers. But that hasn’t been enough to keep enough volunteers in the schools.

In the province’s Xayphouthong district, so many have quit that most kindergartens have no teachers and some schools have no teachers at all, a district education official said. 

In Sepon district, officials need to bring in 123 volunteer and salaried teachers, an education official there told Radio Free Asia. There are 109 schools in the district’s rural areas, where it’s especially hard to hire and keep teachers, he said.

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“Only nine schools have enough teachers – the rest don’t,” he said. “One teacher has to teach many classes or grades at the same time.”

Other provinces are facing the same issues. Northern Oudomxay Province has a shortage of 273 teachers. Central Bolikhamxay province has openings for 413 teachers, according to Phophet Kounnavong, deputy director of the province’s Department of Education and Sports.

One teacher in Bolikhamxay who recently resigned said the salary of 1 million kip (US$45) a month wasn’t enough to meet living expenses.

“I quit to set up a small business,” she said. “Many volunteer teachers have also quit. They couldn’t wait. Those who continue will have to teach many classes at the same time – especially in rural areas.”

Nationwide, last year’s teacher shortage was 2,778, according to official statistics published by the Lao Ministry of Education and Sports.

Translated by Max Avary. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.