Strengthening monastic school education in Myanmar

The Myanmar Education Consortium (MEC), established in 2012 and funded through Australian and UK Governments, has the overall goal of increasing the number and proportion of children in Myanmar accessing and completing quality basic education.

Objective

Burnet Institute partnered with the Monastic Education Development Group (MEDG) to build the capacity of the Monastic School system to provide quality education and school facilities in a targeted number of monastery schools. The MEC was led by three international Non-Government Organisations; Burnet Institute, Save the Children and World Vision.

This project aimed to:

• strengthen management and leadership capacity of the monastic school system
• support teachers and schools to deliver effective child-centred education
• ensure that schools are safe, healthy and child-friendly environments conducive to learning
• engage parents and communities in education.

Timeline

February 2013–March 2015.

Approach

The monastic school system in Myanmar operates over 1,700 schools catering for over 300,000 children. Monastic schools have received very little, if any government funding in the past. Although the government has recently begun to support the salaries of teachers in monastic schools, resources remain limited with many teachers working voluntarily. There is a lack of basic facilities, teaching and learning materials, and inadequate sanitation and hygiene facilities in many schools.

Monastic schools are an integral part of the Myanmar National Action Plan and overseen by the Ministry of Religious Affairs. Teachers in monastery schools are not required by law to attain a certificate in education. They are generally recruited from the local area and may even be former students of the school itself and have varying levels of education.

The government education system fails to actively include some marginalised groups including those in remote and conflicts areas, migrant children, working children, those in poor health, children from ethno linguistic minority groups and children with disabilities. The Monastic school system accepts and supports these children to achieve an education.

Results

A baseline report was completed with findings disseminated in January 2014.

Construction of toilets and water supply systems was completed in 20 schools.