Burma Education Crisis Response

I found Irrawady’s article on Burma’s Education Crisis very accurate to what I’ve seen In Myanmar on my travels there the past few years.  I’ve spent 8 months in Myanmar over the last year and a half working on projects focused on youth ministry leadership and researching the viability of the entrepreneurship school we plan to launch in the spring of 2012.  We have taken great length to understand the situation of education in Myanmar.  Below are some excerpts from the article that stood out to me.

• “We used to have the best education in Asia,” a high school teacher told The Irrawaddy. “If we continue at this rate, our public education will forever be ruined, and I can’t see how the next generation will manage the country.”
• “Everyone just buys books in the market, which you can copy the assignments from. During the lessons we just sit there and listen to the teachers. There is no discussion.”
• “The distant learning course is short term and there is very little contact between the students and their teachers.”
• “It is unfair that we have to put up with the terrible state education, while the rich are enjoying the benefits of private education. It should be made equal so that young people can enjoy a quality education.”
• “The cost of education is reported to be a major reason for non-attendance at school among children aged 5 to 10 years. In the age group of 11 to 15 years, the cost of supplementary items and the requirement to work are reasons for non-attendance.”

In the early 20th century, Myanmar was considered the education capital of Asia.  There were great Universities but when the military came into power after the 1989 elections a lot of the Universities were shut down.  The bulk of the uprising called the 88 generation was University students and education has been an enemy of the state since then.

Through quotes and interviews like this we have concluded that what is needed in Myanmar is a push by the church for affordable quality education and job creation.  In Myanmar, education continues to deteriorate.  The U.N. reports that in 2007 73.9% of students who begin school will reach the final grade.  This is a misleading figure after looking at the Human Development Report from 2009 which states that Myanmar is 145th in combined gross enrollment at 56.3%.  This means that out of the students of age to be in school only 56.3% of them attend.

The U.N. “outcome document” expresses their commitment to education.  Here is an excerpt from page 17, “Ensuring quality education and progression through the school system. This requires establishing learning-friendly schools and institutions; increasing the number of teachers and enhancing their quality through comprehensive policies that address issues of recruitment, training, retention, professional development, evaluation, employment and teaching conditions as well as the status of teachers, through increased national capacity, and building more classrooms and improving the material conditions of school buildings and infrastructure and the quality and content of the curriculum, pedagogy and learning and teaching materials, harnessing the capabilities of information and communications technology (ICT) and the assessment of learning outcomes.”

The church can and must address this issue.  Right now the church in Myanmar has been traditionally focusing on bible colleges and orphanages in education.  The church could create quality schools that are recognized by the international community which could gain funding as well as train people up in a Christian environment.  This is an opportunity to provide a service that is key to poverty alleviation.  Education is the beginning of transforming a country holistically.