Maternal education, women’s access to information and childhood development a case of lao PDR

Ministry of Education and Training
University of Economics Hochiminh City
___________________

CHANTHAVONG SOMSANOUK

“Maternal Education, Women’s Access to Information and Childhood
Development: A Case of Lao PDR”

MASTER DEGREE THESIS IN ECONOMICS

HOCHIMINH CITY, VIETNAM


Ministry of Education and Training
University of Economics Hochiminh City
___________________

CHANTHAVONG SOMSANOUK

“Maternal Education, Women’s Access to Information and Childhood
Development: A Case of Lao PDR”

MAJOR: ECONOMICS OF DEVELOPMENT
(Research-Oriented Programme)
CODE: 8310105

MASTER DEGREE IN ECONOMICS
ACADAMIC ADVISOR: VO TAT THANG
HOCHIMINH CITY, VIETNAM

DECLARATION
I certify that, All contents of this dissertation have never been submitted for any other
degree and has never been currently submitted for any other degree. I certify that, to
the best of my knowledge and helps from the advisor in preparing this dissertation
and all sources used, have been acknowledged in this dissertation.”

Signature

CHANTHAVONG SOMSANOUK

iii


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First and foremost, I would like to express my highest appreciation for my thesis
supervisor Dr. Vo Tat Thang for his valuable suggestions and encouragements during
my study and doing research at the University of Economics Hochiminh City (UEH)
My highest gratitude also goes to all instructors, lecturers who provide me valuable
knowledge especially Prof. Dr. Pham Khanh Nam who compliments and provides
best viewpoints on my thesis proposal; my friends in class who are actively discussed
and commented on my thesis.
My research would not have been possible without the permission from UNDP’s
survey data who formally provided data needed for the qualitative analysis part which
are indeed valuable information that useful in this study.
My best sincere appreciation also goes to the People’s committee of Hochiminh city
who provide and grant aid as exchange scholarship, especially the Lao student
Dormitory in Hochiminh City where provide facilities and the best living condition
during my study. I also would like to express my best gratitude to the Postgraduate
Institute of University of Economics Hochiminh City that helps facilitate and

providing guidelines during my study in UEH.
Finally, my heartfelt gratitude goes to my parents, sibling, wife and the dearest three
sons of mine for support, love and encouragement, this dissertation is dedicated to
them


TABLE OF CONTENT
DECLARATION ...................................................................................................... iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ........................................................................................ iv
TABLE OF CONTENT ..............................................................................................v
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF FIGURES................................................................................................. viii
List of abbreviations .................................................................................................. ix
Abstract .......................................................................................................................x
Introduction .................................................................................................................1
1.1. Research Problem .............................................................................................1
1.2. Some fact on Lao social, economic Status. ......................................................2
1.2.1. Government policy on gender ....................................................................2
1.2.2. Mechanism .................................................................................................4
1.2.3. Education policy toward women empowerment ........................................6
1.2.4 Government policy on education ................................................................7
1.2.5. Literacy status of Lao people .....................................................................7
1.3. Research objective and Research question .....................................................11
1.4. Scope of the Study ..........................................................................................12
1.5. Contribution ....................................................................................................12
1.6. Thesis structure ...............................................................................................12
Chapter 1: Literature review ....................................................................................14
1.1. Theoretical background ..................................................................................14
1.2. Empirical review .............................................................................................18
1.2.1. The impact of maternal education on early childhood development .......21

1.2.2. The role of mother’s education and women access to information impact
on early childhood development. .......................................................................24
1.2.3 The effect of development economics on health .......................................24
1.3. Summary .........................................................................................................25
Chapter 2: Research Methodology and Data Resources ..........................................27


2.1. Conceptual framework....................................................................................27
2.2. Analytical model and data processing: ...........................................................31
2.2.1 Model.........................................................................................................31
2.2.2. Estimation method ....................................................................................34
2.2.3. Variable definitions ..................................................................................34
2.3. Data: ................................................................................................................40
2.3.1. LSIS I .......................................................................................................40
2.3.2. LSIS II ......................................................................................................43
Chapter 3 Empirical result .......................................................................................45
3.1. Data description ..............................................................................................45
3.2. Emperial result ................................................................................................47
3.2.1. Maternal education and early childhood development ............................49
3.2.2. Women access to information and early childhood development ...........49
3.2.3. Regional Effect .........................................................................................49
3.2.4. Wealth Quintile Index ..............................................................................50
3.2.5. Ethnicity effect .........................................................................................50
3.2.6. Clean water using and toilet using ...........................................................50
3.2.7. Household Member and number of children under 5 ..............................51
3.2.8. Age of mother. ..........................................................................................51
3.2.9. Child’s gender: .........................................................................................51
Chapter 4 Conclusion ................................................................................................52
4.1. Conclusions .....................................................................................................52
4.2. Policy implications .........................................................................................53

4.3. Limitation of the study....................................................................................53
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ I
APPENDIX .............................................................................................................. IV


LIST OF TABLES
Table1.1: Attendance of students by Education Level in 2014-2015
Table 1.2: Mean primary school enrollment rates (in %) for children aged 6-12 (20022003)
Table 2.1. Detail description of the variables
Table 3.1. Descriptive statistic of variables used in the regression model.
Table 3.2 Logit estimation result
Table 3.3. Average Marginal Effect result


LIST OF FIGURES

1. The diagrams for the determinants for early childhood development
2. The Development progress of children in different age ranges


List of abbreviations
CEDAW:

The Convention of the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination

CRC:

Right of the Child

ECD:

Early Childhood Development

Lao PDR:

Lao People’s Democratic Republic

LWU:

Lao Women’s Union

GRID:

Gender Resource Information and Development Center

Lao NCAW: Lao National Commission for Advancement of Women


Abstract
Maternal Education, Women’s Access to Information and Childhood Development:
A Case of Lao PDR
Chanthavong Somsanouk
The Lao People Democratic Republic (PDR), a transitional economy, and one of least
developed economics in Southeast Asia region, After its opening the country and an
economic pathway of its development following the semi-market economy system,
the GDP of Laos during last decade growth with an average rate of 7%, which is a
high rate compared to many countries in the region. In the long run, to guarantee the
sustainable growth and development of the country, to raise the productivity, the need
for human resource becomes one of the main focuses in the 8th Social Economic
Development Plan. This paper examines the impact of maternal education and

women’s access to information on probability of the outcomes of early childhood
development as expectedly that the healthier children will eventually to provide
higher labor productivity and guarantee the sustainable development of the country.
By using the Logit regression model, the measurement of health status of children
called Early Childhood Development (ECD) this fills the gaps and make it more
diversity in research on the determinant of the child’s health.
The result of the study shows that maternal education is confirmed to have a positive
effect on children well being. Children whose his or her mother has more years of
school are more likely to be properly developed. At the same time, Women access to
information also found to have a positive effect with a satisfactory level of statistical
significance for the likeliness that her children are properly developed.
The suggestions on implication of the theoretical and the finding of the research are
the scientifically advanced for the policy makers for setting up guidelines for
sustainable development strategies, particularly in aspect of women and child
empowerment through education and access to information.
Key words: Maternal Education, Women’s access to Information, Early Childhood Development, Lao PDR.


1

Introduction
1.1. Research Problem
Early childhood development (ECD) plays an important role in development as the
whole, a recent study in human development reveals that epigenetic, immunological,
physiological and psychological adaptation to the environment is to be possessed from
the very early stages of children and becomes the basis for the entire life course
development (Young, 2002). Evidence on long-term outcomes in low income and
middle income countries allowed the conclusion that the increase cognitive
development of children 25 years ago has significantly resulted in 25% more than those
that was not joining the early child educational programs (Glewwe, 2005).

ECD widely accepted as the foundation of sustainable development in developing
countries. After the publication of The Lancet, the landmark series, child’s development
in developing countries in 2007 and child development in developing countries II in
2011, the number of scientific publications on a core topic of Early Childhood
Development has substantially increased. There also has been increasing in numbers of
funding programs for early childhood development as recent research in early human
development affect overall development throughout the life course (Britto et al., 2017)
.
Early childhood development is gradually improved throughout the past decades
because of the help and support from many development agencies. Together with the
efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, which UNDP has declared since
1990, so that there has been a great improvement in child survival while mortality of
child under five is dramatically dropped.
Many pieces of study have found a significant relation between Mother’s Education and
child development in many aspects. Barrera (1990b), for example, has found that
maternal education level has a positive correlation with health and nutritional status of
the child. Hill and King (1995) has also explained the relationship between educational
level of mother and child’s well-being as the increase of mother’s education results in


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having less number children’s in a family, consequently, this allows family to invest
more on their children.
1.2. Some fact on Lao social, economic Status.
Located in the center of South East Asian, Lao PDR is surrounded by 5 neighbor
countries, China, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand. As of 2015 its
population is approximately 6 million, increased from 5 million in 2005. With Its total
area is 236,800 square kilometers, this makes the population density of Laos is still low.
1.2.1. Government policy on gender

The Lao first constitution adopted in 1991, has stated guarantee of equality of genders
in politics, economy, culture and society, as well as they are concretely stated in family
law. National Assembly has revised and promulgate the family law in the year 2003,
stated that “ the state, society and family should attentively implement the policy on the
development and promotion of women’s advancement, protecting women’s and
children’s rights and benefits” this show that the importance of women and children is
among the concerns of the Lao government. The said law also states that “Lao citizens
have the freedom of settlement and movement as provided by law, women of all ethnic
groups should receive equal treatment in terms of legal rights, economic and social
opportunities.
Apart from stating on the constitution and the law, there are many other laws and legal
documents which reflected the principle of equality between men and women, Labor
law 1994 for example, which requires nondiscrimination in employment, equal salary
pay for both genders not only quantify but quality and value. Female workers have her
right to be off of work at least ninety-days of the maternity period with normal pay from
their employers or from the social security fund. And at least thirty more days could be
allowed as supplementary in case of illness resulting from pregnancy.
On October 2004, the National Assembly passed the Law on Development and
Protection of Women. Subsequently, the President of the Lao PDR issued a decree
which officially announce a publicly this legal instrument that enforced to ensure and
uplift women’s role; to define basic provisions, meaures for the protection of the


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legitimate interests of women as well as the responsibility of the state, society and
family vis-à-vis women; it also aims to promote their knowledge and competency,
revolutionary morals and virtues, gender equality; to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women; to proven and fight against trafficking in women and children;
to combat domestic violence against women and children; to creat enabling conditions

for women’s participation; and to be equal force in national protection and development.
The law also indicated the responsibility of the state, society and family towards women
is to encourage knowledge, capacity and gender quality.
Not only from law and regulation and other legal documents in country level, Laos is
also a signatory to a number of international conventions, which the country is
committed to implementing. It joins the convention on the Political Right of Women in
1969, and ratifies the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination
against women (CEDAW) and the convention on the Right of Child (CRC) in 1981 and
1990, respectively. CEDAW prohibits women’s discrimination and protects their rights
and CRC obligates government to protect the rights of children-girls and boys – and to
ensure that their basic need are met. Safe motherhood is also part of the CRC. The
government’s commitment to gender equality is also expressed in policy document,
including those on population, health and human resources.
Lao PDR has incorporated the main ideas of these conventions in its constitution.
However, there still remains the needed to develop laws to steadily strengthen the Lao
legal framework, which suffers from a shortage of experience and human capacity, and
limited awareness among the population. The ministry of Justice is making efforts to
raise awareness about the plight of women and their rights. It is planed to include gender
training/sessions in legal education (the curriculum for law students) at the Faculty of
Law and Political Science, National Univercity of Laos. Gender training will also be
provided to crime investigators and judges of the supremecourt, and raise awareness of
people’s human rights, especially women, ethnic minorities, children and other
disadvantaged people.


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1.2.2. Mechanism

To improve the women’s status and gender equality, the Lao government assigned the

Lao Women’s Union and Lao National Commission for Advancement of Women
(NCAW) as machineries to implement their functions.
The Lao Women’s Union is a mass organization authorized under article 7 of the 1991
constitution to mobilize and protect the rights and benefits of all Lao women and
children. It was established in 1995 under the name of the Lao Patriotic Women’s
Association, initially acted as a uniting front for all Lao women of all ethnic groups and
all social strata in the struggle for the liberation of the country.
After the liberation and the proclamation of the Lao PDR on December 2, 1975, the
organization changed its name to the Lao Women’s Union (LWU) and expanded its role
and mandate to conform the socioeconomic development of the new era. With status
same as the ministerial level, It has the organization structure from the central level to
the grassroots level. The IV National Lao Women’s Congress approved the Lao
Women’s Slogan: “Three goods” meaning: “being a good citizen, being good in
development, having a good cultural family”.
The roles of the LWU are: to educate women of all ethnic groups as stated in the
constitution, laws, legislations and international conventions related to the right and
benefits of women and children; to protect the right and benefits of Lao women and
children; to mobilize and advance women to actively participate in the social-economic
development; to take part in protecting of fine culture and traditions of Lao women of
all ethnic groups.
The Lao Women’s Union is the national mechanism for the promotion of equal rights
and the advancement of women. The Union has the responsibility for overseeing
directly or indirectly the implementation of all government policies and programs
related to women’s development and gender issues.
Over the past 30 years, the Lao Women’s Union expanded its activities to support skill
training, income generation, and financial assistance for ethnic minority and rural
women; good health practices and family planing; awareness-raising about women’s


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rights, including in the workplace and in relation to land registration and titling; the
establishment of women’s professional associations; and women’s advancement in the
civil service and the National Assembly. More recently, the LWU started to address
emerging issues such as domestic violence, HIV/AIDS, and human trafficking;
however, political mobilization of Lao women remains a core mandate of the LWU.
Since 1997 the LWU has been playing a prominent role in advocating for gender
equality and women’s empowerment through the Gender Resource Information and
Development Center (GRID), through creating gender awareness, and providing gender
analysis for Government official at all levels to facilitate gender main-streaming. As a
technical body some of GRID’s accomplishment include: coordi-nation with the
National Statistic Center to collect and promote the use of statistics disaggregated by
sex; colaboration with CPI to develop guidelines and to conduct training on gender
sensitive planing; gender awareness and skill training for government staff at central
and local levels and mess media; quantitative and qualitative research on the situation
of Lao women, women’s participation in village decision making, gender and land,
gender and energy, women entreprenuers, and other topics; consultation with CPI and
line ministries on intergrating gender in the NGPES; preparation of a country gender
analysis and profile; creation of website and production of newsletters, information
sheets and brochures, poster, calendars and videos.
In the beginning of 2002, the Lao government agreed to establish Lao NCAW as the
mechanism institution to promote gender equality and Women’s Advancement by
gaining experience from Vietnam and Philippines to study their respective national
machineries for women. Therefore, in April 2003 the PM issued the Decree No.37 to
establish the Lao NCAW officially. The Lao NCAW is different from LWU that the
Lao NCAW is a state organization, but both are committed to protecting the rights and
interests of Lao women and to bring about gender quality in all aspects of life in the
Lao society, across various ethnic groups. The Lao NCAW functions as the focal point
coordinating closely with local authorities and international organizations in the
implementation of the government’s policy on gender equality and the elimination of

all forms of discrimination against women. To enable the Lao NCAW to carry out the


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said activity in an effective manner, the Prime Minister of Lao NCAW to carry out the
said activity in an effective manner, the Prime Minister of Lao PDR issued the orders
organizations, line ministries and local authorities to set up a unit for the advancement
of women within their respective organizations. These will be called sub-Commissions
on the Advancement of Women with the responsibility of coordinating the
implementation of national laws, policies and plans for the advancement of women by
their respective organizations.
The National Stategy for the Advancement of Women for the year 2005-2010 that are
in conformity with the Beijin Platform for Action which focus on five main goals: (1)
Enhance women’s participation in the implementation of the NGPES for the entire
population and women themselves; (2) promote the education of women; (3) Improve
women’s access to healthcare services; (4) Increase the number of women in decision
making positions at all levels; (5) Strengthening those organizations that protect and
promote the advancement of women.
Althought the Lao women have obtained several achievements from implementing
different activities, but it still faces some difficulties and challenging that slow down
the process of their advancement such as : the lack of human capacity to effectively
carry out gender mainstreaming within programs and through training exercises for
minstry staff; the lack of accurate sex-disaggregated and relevant gender data to support
policy-making; limited budget and resources to support the gender mainstreaming
process; and the coordination of gender mainstreaming activities among government
ministries, international donors and INGOs still limited.
1.2.3. Education policy toward women empowerment

Although Lao PDR has made quantitative and qualitative progress in education over the

past several decades, education indicators remain among the lowest in East Asia. There
are stark disparities between urban and rural areas, boys and girl, rich and poor. Within
urban areas, the gender gap in education has practically closed. Meanwhile, rural area
recorded some of the lowest educational indicators in the country, and the gender gap
continues to widen. Indeed, a significant proportion of children, especially girls and


7

ethic minority groups in remote areas are out of school. There are more illiterate women
than men.
Causes of illiteracy and low attendance among girls and women vary across provinces
and among the different ethnic groups. Poverty traditional beliefs, some preference
languages, and remoteness are important factors. Others could be dropping out of school
either due to household chores, early marriage or pregnancy. Many poor families do not
see the relevance of formal education for improving their livelihoods, and the lack of
interest by parents discourages children from attending school.
1.2.4 Government policy on education

The Lao Constitution and Education law recognize the right of all citizens to education.
They promote the principle of compulsory primary education and the development of
education with particular attention to ethnic minority groups, women in the greatest
poverty, and both disable and especially talented children. The most significant
document is the Strategic Plan 20 years to 2020, and the five year development Plan for
Education. Government wide policies have also impacted on education: in particular,
the Prime Minister Decree on implementing Decentralization of Educaton Sector, the
five year-social-economic Plan and the National Poverty Reduction Plan.
The Lao Government has also ratified international agreement on and related to
education, for instance, CEDAW, CRC, and has agreed to the eight Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). More specifically, it has committed to Education for All”

(EFA). Under this, the aim is for the overall net enrollment rate (NER) of 95% for
Primary education by 2015, and lower secondary school NER to be 74%. In 2004, the
share of education expenditure in public expenditure is 11,8% of GDP. The MOE is
actually implementing a seven year basic education for girls project ($55 Million US)
and School feeding in primary school in remote areas that help poor children / girls,
ethnic minority groups better access to schooling in particular.
1.2.5. Literacy status of Lao people

About 40% of the Lao population lives below the poverty line and poverty is a major
determinant of who goes to primary school for how long and with what results. Overall


8

adult illiteracy in Lao PDR is about 34 percent, with the rate being higher for women
45% than men 23% (Bank, 2002).
The gender gap is still pronounced, particularly among rural households, poor
households and ethnic minorities. Important gains were mare in urban areas in the last
who decades, with the gap between literate men and women quickly closing. These
absolute gains have been largest for the poor, in particular poor urban females whose
progress in the last few years exceeded that of boys (King and Van de Walle 2005).
Gender disparities in literacy are higher in the highland areas where a large number of
ethnic minorities live. At 29%, the literacy rate for poor rural no Lao-Tai women is the
lowest of all standing in sharp contrast to 66% for poor rural Lao-Tai women (World
Bank 2006). Indicators vary even among the various ethno-linguistic groups, with only
20% of Chine-Tibet women reporting they can read and write a figure that is lower than
the 29% quoted for the overall rural poor non Lao-Tai female population.
The major gender issues in education is that as the level of education increases the gap
widens between the participation of boys and girls in school, especially at university
level. Although the Ministry of Eduation has been making efforts to close the gap, the

disparities still exist and have to be overcome.
Table1.1: Attendance of students by Education Level in 2014-2015
Preschool

Primary

Lower

Upper

School

Secondary

Secondary

University

Total

45,328

831,004

243,137

144,906

39,921

% of Girls

50.02%

46.16%

43.32%

41.16%

39.8%

Sources: MOE, August 2015

Primary enrollment rates in Lao are among the lowest in East Asia, with the lowest rates
being among ethnic minority girls living in rural areas (UNESCO 2003). Eighty percent
of villages have a primary school located in that area, out of which only 36% have
complete primary schools (all 5 grades) (National Census 2015). The situation in the


9

North region is of particular concern nationwide, 90 percent of schools in the poorest
districts are incomplete, and more than 40% of students attend an incomplete school.
The net intake has doubled during the last five years in the 46 poorest districts.
However, in those districts with high concentrations of ethnic minorities, three of five
children attend school at some period, but only half of these complete a basic education.
The vast majority of ethnic minority children never make it past second grade.
In rural areas, more than 40% of all girls and 30% of all boys will have dropped out
before the end of the fifth year. For non Lao-Tai students in rural areas, nearly 50% of

them drop out at the end of primary school. (King and Van de Walle, 2005)
The lowest rates of primary school enrollment are among non-Lao-Tai girls living in
rural areas while the highest are among Lao-Tai men from urban areas. However, there
are notable differences among the various groups. For instance, among the Hmong-Lu
Mien, 48% of rural girls are enrolled in primary school compared to 66% of boys. As
for the Mong-Khmer, 57% and 61% of rural girls and boys are attending primary school.
While the gender gap is smaller among men and women from the Chine-Tibet ethnic
group, only 33% of girls and 39% of boy living in rural areas are enrolled in primary
school. For all three non Lao-Tai groups, the gender gap in primary enrollment is lower
in urban than in rural areas.

Table 1.2: Mean primary school enrollment rates (in %) for children aged 6-12 (20122013)
Ethnic Groups

Urban

Rural

Male

Female

Male

Female

Lao-Tai

90.4

91.9

82.1

80.7

Mon-Khmer

80.1

75.0

61.4

75.4


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Hmong-lu Mien

87.8

84.5

66.0

48.3

Chine-Tibetan

86.5

100

38.7

32.7

Source: King and Van de Walle 2015 based on LECS3
Progression from the primary to the secondary cycle is difficult. About 35% of students
enroll in secondary education, but only about 5 percent complete the full six years and
less than 5 percent of children continue on to university level.
Nationally, female enrollment in lower secondary has remained low. The numbers
indicate a secondary net enrollment rate for the 11-16 age group of 38 percent for males
and 32 percent for females), a drop of 48% and 42% respectively. While overall net
lower secondary enrollment for urban students was 48% for, net enrollment for rural
children was only 25%.
To address the issue of illiteracy and the existing gender disparities in education sector,
government of Lao has the strategic plan as follows:
Universalization of the quality of basic education at the primary level and
continued expansion of participation at lower secondary level, ensuring that all people
have the opportunity to apply their education to serve the social economic programs;
Eradication of illiteracy, thus providing poor people with a means of helping to
improve their quality of life;
Expansion of vocational, technical and higher education to meet the demands of
the new labor market and to improve economic rates of return on human capital
investment;
The training of skilled workers, technicians, professionals, and intellectual to
have the capacity to apply modern science and technology to serve development needs;

and
Gradually upgrade the quality of national education to the international standard.
In Laos, Public policy and its practice are likely mismatched, public investment mainly
focus on urban infrastructure and business subsidies which believed to help boost the


11

economic growth. Expenses on health cafe found to be dropped during 2014-2016, from
3 to 2,4% of GDP, while health care for children are mainly in the responsibility of the
ministry of health this might be the causes lead to the fluctuation in mother and child
health status in Laos.
According to LSIS 2012, and 2017 ECD index of Laos had reached respectively
81,3%; 89,1% However, ECD in the Northern part of Laos has been considered far
poorer than middle and southern parts. A survey conducted by the World Bank out of
7.520 children from 5 Northern provinces, reveals that only 25% of children attended
some form of early childhood education, 22% received some form of health services,
50% are stunted.
Due to less number of scientific studies on this topic available and has been done,
the public acceptance of the importance of ECD has been known only in limited sectors,
in Laos, as a result, it’s vital for this study to investigate and scientifically prove the
relationship between maternal education level and early childhood development, this
seemingly envision for policy maker to pay much attention on investing in human
capital for long run social economic development. Also This expected result of the study
also aims to add to the literature and promoting sustainable development in Laos
through the important role of educational and health and information sectors.

1.3. Research objective and Research question
This desertion is mainly to examine the relationship between maternal education level
and early childhood development as a holistic view of child health status in Laos during

2000-2016. By controlling other variables such as the family wealth quintile, and some
other’s characters of mother the main objective and consideration of the dissertation are
as below:
First, does maternal education influence the early childhood development in Lao
PDR?


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Second, how does the access to information of women affect the development
of children in Laos?
And finally, are there any big differences in terms of ECD among different
regions of Laos?
1.4. Scope of the Study
This thesis analyses and calculates the interaction among level of education of mothers
and early childhood development.
1.5. Contribution
To accomplish the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and sustainability
development in Laos, it is important to recognize the importance of early childhood
development. It’s supposed that only if the determinant of the development is
confirmed, the policy making can be targeted on the right determinant scientifically.
The finding of this research may provide scientific evidence for policy makers to
recognize the role of Child development, maternal education and women access to
information.
1.6. Thesis structure
This thesis is organized into 5 chapters, above section is first chapter, and sections
hereafter are:

Chapter 1: Literature review
This chapter focuses mainly on literature review and empirical studies concerning the

relationship between mother’s education and early childhood development. This
chapter discusses the results of the previous studies and compares the factors which may
be related to one another, such as whether the difference between father’s education and
mother’s education, between adopted children and own birth children, or other
socioeconomic dimensions such as ethnicity, geographical location, gender and wealth
of family or a wide variety of social and economic circumstances, behaviors matter and


13

other related factors. Finally, it also provides the conceptual framework upon the
previous studies.
Chapter 2: Research methodology. This chapter presents the research methodology,
data source and regression technique. And finally, mentions the hypotheses for the
thesis.
Chapter 3: Empirical results. This chapter presents the statistic descriptions of the data
as well as bivariate and multivariate analysis. Along with the discussion and provision
of evidence from the regression results on the finding in association with maternal
education, women access to information and early childhood development.
Chapter 4: Conclusion. This chapter concludes the main findings of the empirical study
results, provides discussion on the limitations and suggestion for future research and
study related to the topic.


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Chapter 1:
Literature review
1.1. Theoretical background
Early childhood development is a multi-dimensional concept, as a result, conceptual

model for it are diverse in response to different fields of study. Based on different
theories early childhood development can be explained by psycho-analytical,
behavioral and social learning theories, Biological Theories, cognitive development,
system theory. Each of these theories helps researchers to identify the determinant and
understand the relation between among social-economic factors that affect the
development of a child.
Early childhood development in psychoanalytical, base on 2 markable theories
Sigmund Freud and Erik Erikson, the former stressed that the child’s personality
formation is influenced by parents’s management of their sexual and aggressive drives,
the latter which extends the Freud’s in which Societal influences had been included to
explain the personality formation. In Behavioral and Social Learning theories, study the
relationship between the environment and nurturing and the growth of a child.
In literature factors affect child development or child health status are explained by
different indicators and various methods of measurment. (Glewwe, 1999) has explained
the determinant of child’s health is influenced by parental schooling, household assets,
local health evironment and child’s health endowment.
According to ecological systems theory, child’s development study within the context
of the system of relationships that form his or her environment, Bronfenbrenner’s theory
defines complex “layers” of the environment, each having an effect on a child’s
development. This theory has recently been renamed “Bioecological systems theory” to
emphasize that a child’s own biology is a primary environment fueling their
development. The interaction between factors in the child’s maturing biology, their
immediate family or community environment, and the societal landscape fuels and
steers its development. Changes or conflict in any one layer will ripple throughout other


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layers. To study a child’s development, we must look not only at the child and her
immediate environment, but also on the interaction of the larger environment as well.

First, the microsystem, the closest structure and has direct contact to the child health
status. The microsystem encompasses the relationships and interactions a child
development status with his or her immediate surroundings (Berk, 2000). Structures in
the microsystem include family, school, neighborhood, or childcare environments. At
this level, relationships have an impact in two directions - both away from the child and
toward the child. For example, a child’s parents may affect his beliefs and behavior;
however, the child also affects the behavior and beliefs of the parent. Bronfenbrenner
calls these bi-directional influences, and he shows how they occur among all levels of
its environment. The interaction of structures within a layer and interactions of
structures between layers is the key to this theory. At the microsystem level, bidirectional influences are strongest and have the greatest impact on the child. However,
interactions at outer levels can still impact the inner structures.
Second, the mesosystem is the layer provides the connection between the structures of
the child’s microsystem (Berk, 2000). Examples: the connection between the child’s
teacher and his parents, between his church and his neighborhood, etc.
Third, the exosystem is the layer defined the larger social system in which the child
does not function directly. The structures in this layer impact the child’s development
by interacting with some structure in her microsystem (Berk, 2000). Parent workplace
schedules or community-based family resources are examples. The child may not be
directly involved at this level, but he does feel the positive or negative force involved
with the interaction with his own system.
After that, the macrosystem is layer may be considered the outermost layer in the child’s
environment. While not being a specific framework, this layer is comprised of cultural
values, customs, and laws (Berk, 2000). The effects of larger principles defined by the
macrosystem have a cascading influence throughout the interactions of all other layers.
For example, if it is the belief of the culture that parents should be solely responsible
for raising their children, that culture is less likely to provide resources to help parents.