Living Ghosts
The spiraling repression of the Karenni population by the Burmese military junta
Chapter 5: Education
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Chapter Overview
Most villagers cite education as a priority for their community in Karenni State. However, education is in a dire situation with levels of schooling seriously undermined due to sever abuses of the education system, deficient state controls and a lack of genuine commitment to provide adequate services in Karenni State by the SPDC. It is common for communities to face frequent school closures, extortions of arbitrary fess, salary theft, a severe lack of materials, resulting students and teachers alike are becoming more and more disillusioned and uninterested in education. The continued lack of support and funding over and above the implementation of policies detrimental to education means that more assistance is required to provide Karenni children with any hope for a better future. Currently, in rural areas, most people only complete primary school and have a basic level of education equating to around four years of schooling.The time for support is now. The future generations of Karenni children are at stake and the risk of not acquiring the necessary skills for survival is too high.
In this chapter:
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5.1 State Spending on Education
The SPDC spends 0.6 per cent of the country’s GDP on education.46 By comparison, the Burmese junta spends 333 per cent more on the armed forces than they do on education. In relative regional and economic terms, Laos spends 2.3 per cent, Thailand 4.2 per cent and Sudan 6 per cent of their GDP on education.47 There is no denying that Burma’s education system is massively under funded, the consequences of which are that Burma in terms of education is falling further and further behind neighbouring countries.
5.2 Schools
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Of 81 communities surveyed in 2006 and 2007 76 had primary schools. No villages had either a middle or high school – BI Field Staff 3 and 7
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In Karenni State school systems can be categorised by three different types of schools. These are: SPDC-run state schools, church-run schools and local community-run schools. Where most villages have a primary school, middle and high schools are usually only found in towns. There are no church or community-run middle or high schools.
5.2.1. Community-run schools
Communities have taken it upon themselves to establish primary schools for their children. The villagers hire and support teachers working in community-run schools. They provide the teachers with food, basic supplies for the school, schools buildings, etc. However, even with this support, teachers in community-run schools are struggling for their livelihoods.
Students, who have finished primary school at a community-run school, face difficulties accessing State-run middle and high schools. State-run schools do not recognise community schools or students from these schools and it is very difficult to transfer from one system to the other. As most communities run their own school this severely limits the education opportunities of children in Karenni State.
5.2.2 State-run schools
In Burma there are 39,000 state-run schools supported by the Burmese military junta.48 There is one state-run school for every two villages in central Burma and one state-run school per 25 villages in ethnic areas, such as Karenni State.49 The junta allegedly provides educational human resources and pays teacher salaries. However, there are severe teacher shortages and teacher’s salaries are inadequate. Additionally there is a shortage of materials and supplies along with inadequate buildings.
5.2.3 Religious schools
The church supports some local primary schools; however there is only partial support for schools. State-run middle and high schools refuse to recognise students’ academic achievements who have attended religious backed primary schools. As a result of this policy from the state education system, students who have completed primary school at church-run schools are ineligible to attend middle or high school.
5.3 Education Resources
The affects that a lack of resources has on education is severe. SPDC run schools not only face depilating shortages of material and human resources.
5.3.1 Teachers
Teacher’s Qualifications
Despite completing teacher training, teachers in State (or SPDC)-run schools receive inadequate training and are ill suited to providing an engaging learning environment. This insistency on ROTE learning throughout their education is commonly also used to train teachers. Teachers are therefore often ill prepared and lack the skills to effectively manage classroom behaviour and ensure that students cover all materials in the syllabus.
Teachers in community-run and religious schools are often villagers who have shown an interest in teaching, or are well respected among the community. They rarely receive any training and often have very limited educations themselves. Despite older, more experienced teachers mentoring community teachers, their experiences as ROTE learners often prevails in their own teaching style similar to that of the state trained teachers.
Salary and salary cuts
The salaries of teachers are considerably low. This low level of salary creates many problems for teachers which affects both their own livelihood as well as their ability to teach affectively. The normal salary of a teacher is between 4,000 and 5,000 Kyat per month. Township and state officers often cut teachers salaries by up to 1,000 Kyat per month. Due to the skyrocketing commodity prices, teachers cannot realistically live on such meagre salaries and consequently need to supplement their income.
Teachers implement this in a number of strategies to help support themselves and their families. For example, teachers from other areas often close the schools for up to a month and return to their hometowns to work. Schools are also closed when teaches go for trainings, meetings, or to collect their monthly salaries from nearby towns. Even if the schools are closed for extended periods and there are complaints, the State authorities do not address the issue.
Teachers also charge their students arbitrary fees as a way to supplement their income, for example, charging fees for study-sessions to prepare for examinations that are compulsory. This leads to student discrimination between those students who can afford the arbitrary fees and those who cannot.
Teacher Shortages
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Karenni Literacy
Most teachers in State-run schools in Karenni State are from different areas in Burma. They are unfamiliar with the area, the people, local traditions, customs and language. Villagers, teachers and students are forced to communicate through the common language – Burmese.
In State-run schools all lessons must be conducted in Burmese. Ethnic languages, including Karenni language, are prohibited from being taught even as a second language. As a result many Karenni children and young adults are not literate in their mother tongue.
Literacy for the Karenni is very important as it is an integral part of their culture. In 2002 to 2004 members of the Karenni Literacy Committee went to villages and taught people to read and write Karenni. However, the deteriorating situation in Karenni State has since made it impossible for people to continue doing this.
Nowadays the only opportunity for villagers to learn to read and write Karenni is through informal lessons among members of their communities. The ability to read and write Karenni is being lost.
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Given the low salaries, lack of teaching materials, non-existent support from the education department and a genuine fear of armed opposition groups, it is very difficult to staff schools. As a result a teacher shortage is a chronic problem across the entire state and teachers have to assume additional responsibilities to fulfil the shortfall. This creates further hardships for teachers as it limits their time that they can spend working to sustain their livelihoods. This leads to supplementary income procuring as mentioned above.
5.3.2 School Buildings
Schools supported by the church have, generally, better conditioned buildings than those of the State or community-run schools. However, for the most part, the school buildings in Karenni State are inadequate for students. Most of the buildings of State-run schools are very old (between 30 and 40 years old). Some State-run schools are too small and are in constant disrepair. Community supported schools often lack the resources and time to construct quality buildings and as a result some students have to take classes outside. Church, State and community run schools rarely have running water or basic toilet facilities. To replace a school building it costs between 300,000 Kyat and 500,000 Kyat, according to BI field staff.
5.3.3 Materials
There is a serious lack of learning materials for teachers and students to use, such as books, teaching aides, sports equipment, etc. Rural areas, in particular, face debilitating shortages of basic school supplies such as pens, books, pencils, etc. Parents also do not have the resources to pay for supplies and materials for their children.
UNICEF provides educational assistance to the Burmese regime in the form of materials however, only a handful of school materials provided by UNICEF have ever reached schools in some rural communities because of corruption.
“Headmasters charge students 20-30 Kyat
per book when they are suppose to sell them for only 5 Kyat
as stated by the provisional office”, a schoolteacher from
Dxxx Tx Mx Gxx village tract, Karenni State said.
Teachers’ equipment mainly consists of a blackboard and chalk. Consequently even if teachers want to engage in alternative, participatory teaching methods they do not have the equipment necessary to do so
5.4 Curriculum
The curriculum used by schools in Karenni State is inadequate. Knowing that most students will only finish primary school, the curriculum is aimed at providing the students with the bare essential skills of reading, writing and basic arithmetic.
The curriculum used in Karenni State is equally as limited. Important subjects, such as good governance, humanities and citizenship are missing from the curriculum, as are music and art. Extra curricular activities such as public speaking and sport competitions that contribute significantly to a child’s development are also ignored.
In State-run schools social science subjects that are included (such as history) are taught from a Burmese perspective, with an emphasis on the Burmese-centric version of history that promotes the importance of Burman ethnicity over other groups, such as Karenni. This further exacerbates ethnic chauvinism as a new generation of children are being brought up to believe that their importance, value and identity in society is determined by ethnicity, rather than by their individual character and achievements.
In some community-run schools sympathetic to the ethnic armed groups, teachers are further developing ethnic tensions through the way educational material is presented to students. By emphasising the status of the Karenni armed resistance movement and the oppression of the people of Karenni State by the Burmese army, the teachers are developing a strong sense of ethnic nationalism among the students. Given the fact that Karenni society, like many other societies in Burma, is highly militarised, this type of education in some community-run schools is contributing to further militarisation in Karenni society.
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Teaching Method
Teachers simply lecture their students and expect the children to repeat back what has been said, similar to the ROTE education method. This system does not encourage students to conceptualise the materials they are learning, but rather focuses on the student’s ability to memorise. Under this education method, students do not learn critical and creative thinking or problem solving skills.
Furthermore often teachers do not pay attention to how the students are progressing. They continue teaching, and fail to check that students are keeping up. As students fall further behind in their lessons, they become less and less interested in their classes and will often stop attending school.
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5.5 Monitoring the education system
The parents of students and community members said that it was difficult to redress issues relating to education in their villages. Despite having an education department as part of the central government the parents said that the state rarely monitors the schools and teachers. Parents do not feel that local staff at the education department follow up on their complaints because teachers were not reprimanded.
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Whilst there are standardized testing during the 4th and 10th Standard. However, even with these tests it does not guarantee a high quality of education. During the 2005/2006 academic year in P—— 40 students sat standardized examinations and made submissions for 10th standard. Of the 40 only 4 passed.
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All of these issues could be addressed if there was an adequate monitoring system developed by the SPDC Education Department. However, the SPDC implements policies that prevent independent monitoring of education services. One such policy was introduced in 2001, where students from 1st to 9th standard could not fail an exam. Students who fail subjects during the final exams are allowed to re-sit the examinations during the summer holidays. Teachers are expected to tutor students who fail their exams for free, however some teachers ask 500 Kyat from each student as a tuition fee to compensate for helping students during the holidays. Students from poor families cannot afford to pay the fee and as a consequence there is a level of discrimination that favours richer students. In other situations to ensure that all students pass the exams, teachers hand out examination papers to the students beforehand.
5.6 Hurdles to access services
There is a very real desire among the population of Karenni State to be able to send their children to school so that they can have a better future. In order to achieve this dream they need to change a system that they have no voice in, or control over; a system that in fact controls them.
5.6.1 Costs
Education is expensive. In State-run schools families are expected to pay for everything, tuition, books, fees, teacher fees, sports fees, religious holiday fees, extra-tuition, study-fees, examination fees and many others. As students progress in their schooling, their fees increase each year.
For most families providing their children with a simple education (primary level) is beyond their reach. Community-run schools are more affordable (people support teachers with food) and accessible. However, these finish at the primary level.
Students attending middle and high school are expected to pay the fees mentioned above (as well as any additional arbitrary fees). As most villages do not have middle or high schools, students have to travel long distances to attend classes. Often it is too far for them to return home each night; therefore they must lodge near their schools. Some stay with family while others need to pay for a place in a boarding house and incur the expanses of their accommodation and food.
“As parents, we are
mainly using swidden farming to support ourselves. There are
no rich families, a few families have a little more than others,
but it is not much. There is almost no income. Struggling
for daily survival is our main work. So to survive is more
important than education,” T-- R--- said.
Additionally, as most people in Karenni State rely on agriculture for their livelihood many children are sent to work in the fields to contribute to the family’s income rather than to go to school. Additionally, children are kept home to look after younger siblings while their parents go to the field to work. Sometimes families keep children to work at home for a few days to a week, and then allow them to return to their lessons. For many children however it means a permanent end to their education.
5.6.2 Limited Opportunities following Education
Students who have completed high school or have attended higher education have very limited employment opportunities. Most end up working in agriculture or forestry work, even though they are quite well educated. Opportunities for working with the government are limited and most require a bribe to obtain these positions regardless of how qualified one may be for the position. As a result some parents do not see the value in education and consequently stop sending their children to school.
Footnotes:
46 World Bank, http://devdata.worldbank.org/edstats/SummaryEducationProfiles/CountryData accessed November 2007
47 UNESCO Institute for Statistics, http://www.uis.unesco.org, accessed November 2007
48 “A dangerous journey to school: Why are students fleeing the Burmese education system?”, Burma Issues Newsletter, July 2005
49 “A dangerous journey to school: Why are students fleeing the Burmese education system?”, Burma Issues Newsletter, July 2005
To read other sections of the report please use the links below:
Executive Summary
Introduction
Oppression
Livelihoods
Health
Drugs
Internal Displacement
Threats to Regional and Internationl
Stability
Recommendations
Appendices
To email BI about our report, Living Ghosts, or the situation in Karenni State please click this link.
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