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“Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.”

Article 26, Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Overview

How can a country develop when the government has no intention of implementing quality education programmes for their people? The answer is easy – it can’t. In Burmese tradition, education has been valued and strongly encouraged in society. However, the current education situation is in turmoil. The regime claims that it promotes education in Burma, yet the generals have not implemented an adequate basic educational system that is free for all. Without student rights, academic freedom and rights to education, no system can be successfully developed.

Out of a population which has now passed 50 million, it is estimated from official statistics that over 3 million school-aged children are failing to acquire primary education. Children dropped out of school for various reasons, but the key reason is their families’ financial poverty. Even though existing laws prescribe free primary education, there is no clear legal protection mechanism, monitoring body, or public awareness of the educational provision in Burmese law.

Earlier this decade, the regime laid down a four-year national education promotion program and a 30-year long-term education program. However, government assistance for student facilities such as hostels, scholarship funds, and modernised learning materials has not yet materialised. The government authorities have ordered a self-reliance program in education, particularly in rural areas. According to these programs, local people and parents have to share the cost for school buildings, teachers, teaching materials, and other related expenses. It is assumed that the government has less of a responsibility for free compulsory primary education in these regions. Since rural people suffer from poverty, they cannot support such programs on their own.

Other education rights such as student rights and academic freedom are entirely absent under successive military regimes. Due to these abuses of rights, education standards have reached the lowest point in Burmese history. The following four sections give further information about the education situation in Burma, applying to each level of education. The examples given are certainly not an exhaustive list of problems, but highlight particular problems within the education system itself.

Student Participation

The teaching method adopted in Burma revolves around rote learning, is not student-centred and student participation is ignored. Students are not encouraged to ask questions, exhibit critical thinking or learn to reason. Thus benefits such as understanding meanings, general application of skills, subject competence, knowledge empowerment, field expertise, numeracy, literacy, improved communication skills and creativity cannot be developed in students under the present teaching and learning methods.

Poorly Skilled Teachers

As teachers have come through the poor education system, they are ill equipped to pass on adequate education to the students. This causes a downward spiral of education quality. Teacher training, conducted by the government departments, is not about training teachers in new learning methods or to gain a better understanding about their courses, but is mainly a propaganda machine to train teachers to be loyal to the government, respect the rules of government staff members, and prevent and oppress possible student uprising. In rural and ethnic areas, the teachers have limited or no qualifications (especially not the official teacher training). In ethnic areas, the syllabus surrounds their ethnic language; however official education is centred on the Burmese language. Therefore, if ethnic students want to further their education to secondary or tertiary levels, they have language problems and acclimatisation difficulties.

Continuous Assessment and Program System

In the 1990-1991 academic year, CAPS was introduced in Burma by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). By the turn of the century, this joint project between UNICEF and the Basic Education Department saw CAPS has been applied to 11,967 basic primary and high schools across 227 nationwide townships. This system has been widely and successfully applied in many countries; however, it has not worked well or reached its goals within Burma.

Pursuant to CAPS, the focus was taken away from the final exam, but on monitoring the student’s progress throughout the year. If the student failed the final exam, they had the option of re-sitting the exam, or transferring marks from other subjects. However, the system was applied negligently in Burma. The government used the system to help carry out their own policies. Students can obtain marks by giving bribes to schoolteachers, who have the power to recommend that the student passes the exams. Also, to obtain good marks, students must be members of the government-sponsored association, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), another propaganda-feeding association. The CAPS system has distinct failings: students do not study hard because they realise they can pass the exam easily and obtain the marks through other means. The ultimate failing of this system is that students can graduate without any understanding of the courses. Both the education authority and UNICEF have not officially reviewed the success or failure of this system.

Insufficient Learning Materials and Resources

Learning materials and resources are not fully available for students. In basic high schools, authorities have not provided enough textbooks for all students. To obtain a textbook, students must enter a raffle-like draw. Those who miss out must copy or buy their textbooks from elsewhere. This situation is documented as being widespread in schools across the country.

The government claims that e-learning centres and multi-media classrooms have been set up in schools in some areas, and that the online education system is available to all students. In truth, these learning resources are not easily available to the majority of students. They have proven to be effectively showrooms – with equipment hired in when authorities and officials visit the schools. The claims made by the government about the e-learning facilities are bogus, as the Internet as a learning resource is severely restricted for ordinary students, due to the high expense and accessibility of only a modest number of websites.

The practical and laboratory rooms of schools are not well equipped and learning materials are out of date. Access to libraries, another main learning resource, is also very limited in Burma. In some universities and in the majority of schools, there is no library. Moreover, university libraries in Burma do not create a good environment for learning and reading, because their service system is extremely inadequate, only a few books are available, inventory and maintenance is poor, and the room facilities and reading places do not encourage learning in the library.

Conclusion

As can be seen from the overview and examples given, the teaching and learning system in Burma does not meet basic standards of competency; the quality of education has become degraded, and the system corrupted. Due to the government’s manipulation and corrupting influence on the learning and teaching system, education in Burma has little worth. A responsible government should only be the guiding force behind the system and should stay away from controlling the process for political ends. Until this happens, Burma cannot facilitate its national development, nor can the Burmese enhance their personal development.

Source

Information for this article was sourced from the Education Report 2002, compiled and published by the Foreign Affairs Committee, All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU). For more information, visit www.abfsu.net.