06.05.2007
The Best Investment
Speaking with the AEIOU Programme
_ Interview carried out by Dr. Tayza
The All Ethnic International Open University AEIOU Programme, affiliated to Chiang Mai University, near Thai-Burma border is celebrating its first Graduation Ceremony this week. And, to commemorate and congratulate such an unprecedented great achievement for poor youths from Burmese Diaspora, especially for refugee and IDP youths along Thai-Burma border, BURMA DIGEST made an interview with the Rector of AEIOU Programme, Prof. Ma Tin Yee (Dr. Rosy).
[Click here to view Graduation Photo Documentary ]
|
(The Rector of the All Ethnic International Open University AEI0U Programme, Prof. Dr Ma Tin Yee, affectionately known as Aunty Rosy, is the Director of the Empowering Women of Burma, as well as Professor at the Simon Fraser University of British Columbia, Canada.) |
BURMA DIGEST: When was AEIOU inaugurated?
Dr. Rosy: The idea of AEIOU was started in the early 90s. I went to the border catering to the needs of Women and Children with EWOB and saw the needs. So I put up the refugees education programme to a well known donor. They not only did not respond to our needs but exploited us by opening their own educational institution. Since then I realise that not all the donors are genuine but have ulterior motives to further their own end.
BURMA DIGEST: Why and how was it formed?
Dr. Rosy: In implementing a rough survey we discovered that some NGOs took the intelligent youths to Chiangmai, trained them for a year or two in English, Computers and the likes and send them abroad with the hope that they will come back to work. Then there are some NGO that have the distant education programme by correspondence and the teacher pupil contact is minimal. So it was on these lessons that we draw up an Open University of one semester at CMU (Chiang Mai University) and the other semester is in their own respective community, writing term/research papers of their own choice and participating in the community work in their own community. By this way he is not cut off from its roots and the percentage of coming back become more
BURMA DIGEST: What is the vision of AEIOU?
Dr. Rosy: AEIOU realise that higher education is a pre requisite for any change in Burma and hence we launched this Programme
BURMA DIGEST: Please tell me your perspective on the education in Burma.
Dr. Rosy: AEIOU also realise that the Junta was wielding the most important weapon. That is education. Generations of Burmese Generals under the banner of Tatmadaw has deliberately neglected the education either because of the upheaval in schools and universities with closures, removal of institutions to remote sites, lack of freedom of expression, loss of qualified and experienced staff, maintenance of rote learning in schools and the failure to keep up with modern developments, and isolation from the rest of the world.
The United Nations latest reports that attacks targeting and effecting educational facilities, staff and students are increasing inside Burma. The report states that violence is preventing more and more children from having access to basic educational opportunities. A clear example of this is the recent forced migration of hundreds of locals from villages along the Thai border in the wake of persistent offensives by the Burmese Army and its allies. Further, the report states that as recently as 2002 there were an estimated 70,000 child soldiers in Burma, some as young as 11 years old. "Education is now accepted as a necessary part of the initial response to an emergency created by conflict. The challenge now is to make education part of the solution to conflicts," concludes the report. Currently in Burma only one out of three children is said to complete at least five years of school.
BURMA DIGEST: What do you think of the democracy movement?
Dr. Rosy: As said earlier most of the 88 generation was brought up in the Burmese Socialist Era and it was no wonder that they cannot remain united as they are imbued with the army mentality and the ensuing power struggle in ABSDF completely dashed the hopes and the aspirations of the pro democracy movement of the whole country. Hence the Burmese professional educationist in Diaspora got together and implemented a research on it; implement the pilot projects for three years and the end result was AEIOU.
BURMA DIGEST: Please let me know of what the acronym AEIOU. To me it looks like a vowel of the English language.
Dr. Rosy: Yes it is a vowel because in the English language there is no word without a vowel. It is All Ethnic International Open University.
All indicates that there is no discrimination whatsoever, even though for the moment has barred the children of Lt. Colonel and above as they can afford to study elsewhere.
Ethnics mean all the people residing in the Union of Burma whether it is a Myanmar or a Non Myanmar. Due to the Myanmarnization policy, the ethnic cleansing policy was launched by the Burmese Tatmadaw. This conflict has snowball effect and has even reach to the Myanmar youths with disastrous effect. AEIOU is against this phenomenon and is endeavoring to close the gap, hence every student who came and study in this university is not only encouraged to maintain their cultural tradition but to be proud of their ancestral values, and traditions.
International point out that the university is of international standard. Exposure to life in a democratic society is the main advantage to students studying abroad. We find out that many of our applicants already have an understanding of the evils of a dictatorship and an appreciation of the advantages of a free society. The zeal to study and serve their own community is two sides of a coin that was instilled in the Programme at par with the international system.
Open means that it is not only open to all the ethnic tribes residing in Burma but also to the Myanmar/Burman, the majority tribe. Open in the sense that it have the first semester (Jan to May) at Chiang Mai University while the second semester is from June to September is in their own community be it a refugee camp, IDP area, migrant workers places or even inside Burma, where they have to implement the assigned (mutually agree topic) task of writing their term paper and initiate a matriculation examination for the new students in their own locality. Once it is done then the marks of the 1st semester and the 2nd semester are combined together to see if he/she passes and fir for the second year. In this way we ensure that the student is not cut off from its roots and that he is community orientated.
University. I don’t think I need to explain the word university.
BURMA DIGEST: How many years do a student have to study?
Dr. Rosy: It depends on which faculty he/she chooses. If it is Art and Management it is usually five years. But if it is other professions it may be more or less. But every student must spend one semester with AEIOU to know its basic rules and structures.
BURMA DIGEST: How many Faculties are there?
Dr. Rosy: For the moment we have only a few faculties, They are the faculty of Social Sciences, Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Pedagogy and Faculty of Medicine
BURMA DIGEST: Do you have plans to expand?
Dr. Rosy: Yes, it very much depends on the human and material resources.
BURMA DIGEST: How many types of students are there in AEIOU?
Dr. Rosy: There are four categories, one is the refugee from the Refugee camp. In fact we started to call ourselves as the Refugee Youth Education Programme before we adopted this name. Primarily it was meant to educate the refugees only. But later the IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) came in and obviously migrant workers follow. Later we expanded into Burma for potential youths who are involved in humanitarian works.
BURMA DIGEST: What is your opinion on these students?
Dr. Rosy: Refugee students are the most obedient of all the students and they try very hard and value the chance of study. The second were the IDPs because they are somewhat similar to the refugee. The hardest one are the migrant workers, because their mentality is that they have been exploited by their employers that they are always thinking how to be against the employer and got the better of it. So when they come here they could not easily for go this mentality and construe the teachers as employers out and out to exploit them. Those coming from inside Burma lack General Knowledge.
BURMA DIGEST: What is the criteria for passing the exam?
Dr. Rosy: It is well written in our publications and every student knows of what are the criteria of passing the examination. We have only two semesters in a year, the Cold Season semester which is in CMU and the Monsoon semester which is in their own community. Based on their work during both semesters, marks are being given in the following categories _
Cold Season Semester Annually from early Jan to end of May
1 Terminal Exam 30%
2 Class work and participation 5%
3 Obedience and disciplines 5%
4 Moral, Manners and Volunteering 5%
5 Group work and attendance 5%
Come to 50 %
Monsoon Semester June to October
This is the most important semester because it is here that more than 50% of the students fail. They go back to their own community relax and failed to implement the assigned works
1 Organizing the younger generation of their own community and encouraging them to appear for the AEIOU matriculation examination is 10%
2 Writing the term/research paper and submitting it to the rector before September is 40%
Combining the two semesters will be 100% and out of this 100% if the student does not gain 50% then he/she failed and does not come back to AEIOU for the next term.
BURMA DIGEST: Why do you imposed such a system?
Dr. Rosy: Circumstances, firstly we are a war time education system because the Burmese military government deliberately targeted the education system so that there won’t be any dissident. Secondly our AEIOU is community orientated. If they don’t serve their own community our target is not reached. The Union spirit is our goal for the future of Burma. We discover that the students who graduated from AEIOU show that they become even more committed to serve their community than those who choose to go for good. And found that they understand and love each other very much.
BURMA DIGEST: Now in your graduation there are gold medalist, honours and diplomas, can you explain to me their criteria.
Dr. Rosy: Of course all must be our students current and old. We observe for some years, their perseverance, character, innovation, initiation, dedication, attitude and field work. Of the hundreds of students that gone through AEIOU only one has reached a master level and for that we award the gold medal.
Honour, is awarded of those who has served faithfully for several years for organization and academically passed with distinction. We don’t choose the most talented and qualified but the most dependable, honest and willing to be used to serve the people.
For Diploma, the student must fully completed two years study in AEIOU including the research paper. Those who properly follow the programme and honour the disciplines. He must prove to be a natural leader in his own community.
BURMA DIGEST: What do you mean by the Union Spirit?
Dr. Rosy: AEIOU as the name signifies is working for Union Solidarity not by the lips but by actions. We are against the ethnic cleansing policy of the Burmese military government and hence we encourage the ethnic students including the Myanmar (Burman) to value and upheld their culture. This we find our expression in literature, singing, dancing, wearing national costumes etc. The hand on practical aspect is that we could have easily taken a huge hostel where we can put each student in his own room but we deliberately choose to have a dormitory where all students have to sleep and eat together. No students of its own tribe/group must stay together in one room. Each student must learn and study the other. In this way they understand each other’s culture, religion, customs etc. We construe it as the laying the basic foundation of the Federal Union of Burma. They are encourage to maintain their own culture and identity and at the same time was imbued with the Union spirit.
BURMA DIGEST: How many campuses do you have?
Dr. Rosy: We have four or five campuses just for convenience sake. Most of the classes are conducted at the CMU Campus where there is a university atmosphere, but during Saturday and Sunday or in holidays where the CMU is closed we teach in our own campuses and if there is not enough room we request the Churches to open their doors for our classrooms.
BURMA DIGEST: How many Professors do you have and who are they?
Dr. Rosy: This is a good question. This semester we have about 21 professors and some of them are Ph. D students. All our professors are on voluntary basis. We call professors all over the world who have cetena well-wishes to the Burmese marginalized youths. Of course we give preference to the Burmese professors so abundant abroad but there are many who are afraid to come lest they would be in the bad books of the Junta, who will prevent them from visiting Burma. Obviously we have to maintain our international standard, a lecturer must produce its Master’s degree and a professor must have a doctoral degree.
BURMA DIGEST: How many subjects?
Dr. Rosy: It depends on the faculty. The faculty of Pedagogy has its own teaching subjects.
Medicines has its own disciplines and of course Social Science and Humanities has many
Chosen subjects something like 17 subjects.
BURMA DIGEST: Visiting some of your campus we see many prohibition signs e.g. drinking and smoking?
Dr. Rosy: Yes drinking, smoking and the use of narcotics are considered as the weapons of the enemy and so any student indulge in these nefarious act are expelled at once.
BURMA DIGEST: Why did you choose Chiang Mai University (CMU) and not other universities?
Dr. Rosy: Because it was only the CMU that accepted us with sympathy and compassion. In fact we approached other universities and but were rejected. Set against the backdrop of Doi Suthep hill is an idyllic recreational area where we can satisfy our nostalgia for the Rangoon University. Hence we have give the Burmese names like Inya Kan to the lake and Ta Da Phyu to the little bridge It really broke my heart to know that Rangoon University has been put up to sale.
BURMA DIGEST: What kind of Students were you seeking or rather your AEIOU is producing?
Dr. Rosy: Even though we have a very high standard of matriculation where a potential student has to answer very hard papers in English and General Knowledge not only written but also oral examinations, we are not seeking the most qualified or rather talented ones. What we are seeking is dependable, available and willing to serve the community, country and people. The spirit of sacrifice for the country and people is paramount. In other words we are looking for Good Samaritan who will go out of his way just to help the needy.
BURMA DIGEST: Is your Programme confined to your students only?
Dr. Rosy: No, almost every week we have our public lectures by one of our professors and we usually invite eminent and distinguished persons and we always invite the Burmese Diaspora to come and ask questions. These special lectures are widely advertised in the internet.
BURMA DIGEST:
Do you have anything to say?
Dr. Rosy:
We would like to thank our current donors. As AEIOU continue to expand (both in
terms of faculties and students) we need more resources and we are very worried
because some of them are facing donor fatigue. Even though we are trying to find
more partners, it is an uphill job because very few are catered for education.
We really need donors who have a vision and understand the situation in Burma
Comments:
Snow said _
AEIOU is very great university, I like it.
Boisson Mireille said _
How the AEIOU progamme financed? In what language is the teaching given?
Your Comments here_
Request: If you can kindly volunteer to translate BURMA DIGEST English articles into Burmese, please let us know burmadigest@tayzathuria.org.uk .
Last issue's English article
