Educators defy education bill

 

At the press conference yesterday, the coalition announced the plan to form a national education commission and higher education coordination committee. This is despite the fact the two institutions are branded “unnecessary” in the bill. 

The network also called for more inclusive education, with special clauses taking into account children with disabilities. 

NNER has vehemently opposed the bill, which was passed in the 10th regular parliament session last month. All parties now wait whether President Thein Sein will sign endorse it, with some expecting to hear the decision on the next parliament session.

The coalition, which cover school teachers, students and law experts, has criticised the Ministry of Education’s 2014 reform proposals as “propaganda of the government” created without enough input from the public. Importantly, it attacked on the centralisation of the plan. Under the bill, students’ unions remain illegal. All schools and universities, except defence academies, must be supervised by the ministry. 

Currently, 13 different ministries oversee higher education, with the Ministry of Education overseeing the majority of universities (64 out of 161 universities). The ministry has 10 different departments for overseeing the country’s education system, but for higher education it has two specific units, one for northern Myanmar – centred in Mandalay and one for southern Myanmar – operating out of Yangon.

NNER calls for a system that decentralises the supervision, to lift education staff’s moral standards and accountability.

“Due to 60 years of centralisation, our education system is the worst  in the world. This is because of centralisation,” said Ma Haung Sai, member of NNER.  

Another member Dr. Nyo Nyo Thin attacked the bill for the lack of commitment towards the annual education budget. The coalition earlier urged Parliament to allocate 12 per cent of annual budgets for education. 

“The bill does not reflect our demand. We’re totally opposed to it,” said Nyo Nyo Thin.

Official statistics show that there are 41,000 state-run basic education schools in the country where more than 8.1 million students are pursuing education under the guidance of more than 270,000 teachers. In the higher education sector, the country has 161 universities and colleges. Yangon is home to 33 universities, while Kayah state has the fewest: three

In a country where 70 per cent of population lives in rural areas, there is growing demand to improve the quality of education in the rural areas. 

President Thein Sein pledged in his inauguration speech in 2012 to improve education and seek foreign expertise to lift standards to international levels. The Myanmar government has made reform of the entire higher education system a national priority. One of the main drivers is the recognition of the important role of human capital to the economic development goals of the country. 

The government increased the country’s education budget to Ks 310 billion in 2013. Yet, though the amount accounted for 7.5 per cent of the national budget compared to 5.2 per cent the year before, it was just 1.3 per cent of GDP.