Irrawaddy-Oct 26
Myanmar’s education system is in chaos due to the regime’s failure to fill the massive vacancies of qualified teachers who refused to work for the junta and joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) after the 2021 military coup, parents of students say. More than 400,000 government employees from the education system joined the CDM—a peaceful protest against the coup—and refused to work in the regime’s education system in 2021. Professors, teachers, administrators and general school staff members joined the movement, causing severe staff shortages at all levels of education, from primary to university. On October 5, World’s Teachers Day, the civilian National Unity Government said at least 130,000 teachers continue to participate in the CDM, or 30 percent of those who joined it in 2021. A primary school in North Dagon Township on the outskirts of Yangon is so understaffed it can no longer offer regular full-time classes for students, parents of students said. Schools under the regime’s Ministry of Education in Yangon and other big cities are struggling with teacher shortages and a lack of qualified teachers, teachers who joined the CDM.
Millions of students in Myanmar had drifted from classrooms and schools when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in March 2020. The military coup in 2021 added fuel to the fire as nearly 10 million students boycotted the regime’s education system. Many parents in Yangon, Mandalay and other big cities shifted their children to private schools while students in resistance strongholds continued studying in community schools set up by CDM teachers and volunteers under guidelines set by the National Unity Government. Read more at: https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/myanmar-junta-gets-an-f-for-education-as-schools-spiral-into-chaos.html
