06.05.2007
Editorial: Education is a Human Right!
_ By Taisamyone
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “Everyone has the right to education”. Education is important, not just for you and me as an individual, but for our community, our society and mankind as a whole. It is the route to personal development, leads to raising one’s own consciousness and affords a society with a multitalented creative culture, and a more versatile and productive workforce, whether the economy is agricultural or industrial. It is essential for every modern country to boast a population that is literate in the traditional basis skills, as well as being conversant with modern technology. Any modern country which has critically assessed how it spends the national budget treats education as an important national priority.
So how does the SPDC regard education? As DASSK puts it, “Under the present military government the whole educational system is neglected and higher education is virtually non-existent with the frequent closure and repressive control of the universities.” By only spending around 1% of the budget on education it ensures that only about one out of three children is said to complete at least five years of school. Once upon a time, the quality of education in Burma was the envy of Asia, with the prestigious Rangoon University held in high regard in a region that has always boasted a higher regard for educational achievements than the west.
As university students in Burma, like their contemporaries worldwide, have always been at the forefront of new ideas and the political movements for independence and democracy, the regime have implemented their own authoritarian method of control; close the universities, imprison any outspoken teachers (however brilliant), prevent students from talking to one another and disperse them around the country. In fact, the regime has put considerable effort into building the tertiary educational facilities that they want – that enable them to control the students and prevent any political opposition from developing. The educational quality or the resulting skills and capabilities of the graduates have not been given any consideration whatever.
Once students arrive at school, they will find limited resources, having to share what facilities are available, and they will find that the curriculum has been written by the regime’s propaganda department. History and any other subjects that can be rewritten to support the regime’s absurd version of history have been perversely adulterated to meet their brainwashing agenda. Anyone who leaves Burma finds that much of what they have learnt is irrelevant in the world where truth, objectivity and critical assessment are taught as standard.
Primary schooling in Burma is so poorly funded, that those NGOs that brave the Ministry of Education rules to setup schools inside Burma have to provide basic nutrition and healthcare for their charges as well as basic education. In rural areas, particularly near recent cease-fire areas, children are lucky if there is a school anywhere near their home. As the regime insists on only Burmese language schooling, many children (maybe 40% of the population) cannot learn in their mother tongue, infringing on their basic freedoms and disadvantaging them. However, in some areas, community funded monastery based education is returning, as government funded schools are just unable to provide even the basic facilities and schooling that the children need.
What education is provided in Burma is dependant on ‘disciplined’ behaviour, which usually means signing contracts not to get involved in anti-government organisations (maybe they mean the NLD!), bribing the school authorities and joining the USDA – in fact some students cannot be entered for examination unless they join! Examination grades are somewhat worthless, as few teachers wish to incur the wrath of local government or military officers by giving bad, albeit correct, marks for their children. Without adequate funding or facilities, education becomes a privilege for the elite – in Burma’s case, that means those with money or those in the military.
In border areas, refugees and migrants benefit from NGOs operating from other countries (e.g. there are several operating on the Burma-Thailand border), or from schooling provided by local Buddhist monastery groups. Many of these groups operate for just a limited number of schools and manage on shoe-string budgets and donations from individuals.
There are also numerous international educational charity organisations and the US government’s Burma Refugee Scholarship Program that support the educational needs for University students studying in overseas countries. AEIOU struggles to continue its funding, but is an essential part of the external educational system for the people of Burma.
All of these groups realise the great importance of education for the future of Burma, and provide some students with the much needed skills and knowledge that Burma will need to raise itself from the dire stagnating economic circumstances that the regime have been creating over the last 45 years.
Without an education system that fosters individuality and creativity, that imparts knowledge and the skills for using that knowledge, Burma will be a follower, begging for technology and professional skills from other countries, scratching around for more natural resources to fund purchases of foreign manufactured goods – from countries that respect education and make sure that they put in enough funding and enough freedom to allow it to flourish and for their people and their economy to prosper. The future prosperity of Burma is with the young people who are being educated now. It is therefore essential that they are supported in gaining as good an education as possible.
For further information
¨ Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 26: 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.
Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
¨ U.S. Government and Burma Scholarship Program
¨ Chiang Mai University (AEIOU)
¨ The Lost Hostage: Education in Burma
¨ UN: violence targeting education on the rise
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