Borikhamxay schools in need of more than 400 teachers

School attendance in Borikhamxay province this academic year is significantly lower than last academic year, but schools in the province are short of more than 400 teachers.

Children start the new school year in Borikhamxay province. --Photo Pathetlao Daily newspaper

Deputy Head of the province’s Education and Sports Department Mr Phophet Kounnavong, said some 70,500 students had enrolled at schools across the province at the start of the school year last week.
Of these, at least 8,900 are attending kindergartens, more than 38,100 have enrolled at primary schools, and about 23,500 children have registered for classes at lower and upper secondary schools.
However, the number of students in each class has fallen significantly compared to last year, he said.
With regard to the province’s development plan for the education and sports sector in the academic year 2023-2024, out of 14 set goals, six had been achieved. Several of the goals were proving challenging to meet, especially given the high student dropout rate.
Many children drop out of school at an early age, with some leaving after finishing primary school. There is also another exodus at the end of the 3rd Grade of secondary school, Mr Phophet said.
Borikhamxay province has 319 primary schools, 28 lower secondary schools, two upper secondary schools, and 24 lower and upper secondary schools, according to the Pathetlao Daily newspaper.
More than 3,200 people are employed in the education sector, of whom 2,909 are teachers, 366 are administrative staff, and more than 100 are volunteer teachers.
But the chronic teacher shortage is a huge obstacle to the improvement of education in Borikhamxay, where kindergartens are short of 30 teachers, primary schools have vacancies for 85 teachers, and secondary schools require 298 more teachers.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update September 9, 2024)