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Education in Post-Coup Myanmar

A Shattered Landscape with Resilient Actors

Book cover – Education in Post-Coup MyanmarNicolas Salem-Gervais, Summer Aung, and Amber Spreelung
with the participation of Ja Seng, Phyo Wai, Myo Sett Paing, and Pau Sian Lian
IRASEC, Bangkok
July 2024, 316 p.
ISBN 978-2-35596-077-2
English Language English text

The 2021 military coup ended a decade of reforms and shattered Myanmar’s political landscape. This event has triggered conflict in nearly all regions of the country as well as numerous deaths, arbitrary detentions, massive population displacements and migrations, and a dramatic drop in people’s livelihood.
The realm of education has been at the heart of great political and cultural battles throughout the country’s history, playing decisive roles to legitimize and to oppose colonial and independent governments, including repressive military regimes. With a myriad of actors demonstrating unshakable determination and resilience in their opposition to the coup, the education sector has certainly held its place as a key component of Myanmar’s politics this time around. As part of the Civil Disobedience Movement, civil servants and students have massively boycotted the national education system. Numerous historical and newly created non-state education systems also play increasingly important roles in providing an alternative to education under the control of the military. These education providers (with broad and partly overlapping categories such as pro-revolution/NUG, ethnic, monastic, private, or Chinese) operate both within and beyond State-controlled territories. Many of them face daunting challenges, including extremely limited resources and the use of deadly violence by the military.
Mobilizing a wide historical and geographical perspective and using a simple transversal lens of quantity, quality, and identity, this book aims to document and make sense of these dramatic and fast-evolving developments, towards a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges concerning education under and beyond the current military regime.

 

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“An indispensable reference for anyone investigating education in Myanmar – a thorough analysis informed by primary documents, journalism, and on-the-ground research.”
Dr. Rosalie Metro, University of Missouri-Columbia

 

“This ambitious, well-organized book gives a close understanding of the immense challenges facing the education sector in Myanmar. This study precisely covers the wide range of education provided within and beyond its borders, in a highly volatile and fragmented situation.”
Dr. Mike Hayes, Mahidol University

 

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Contents

 

Introduction

Scope, approach, and sources
Quantity, Quality, and Identity (QQI)
Outline of the book’s structure

 

Chapter 1 :
Education, politics, and identity in Burma/Myanmar : A brief historical background

  1. Dynastic Myanmar
  2. Education under colonization
  3. Education in independent Burma (1947-1962)
  4. The Burma Socialist Program Party and education (1962-1988)
  5. 1988 uprising, the SLORC/SPDC, and the realm of education
  6. Towards democratization, decentralization, and educational progress ? (2011-2020)

 

Chapter 2 :
The coup turns education into a battlefield

  1. The coup and its aftermath
  2. Education under the SAC-controlled MoE
  3. The NUG and pro-revolution education providers

 

Chapter 3 :
Expanding complements and alternatives to state education (1)
Ethnic education providers

  1. A de-railed process of national integration through decentralization ?
  2. Post-coup ethnic education : magnitude, diversity, challenges
  3. Two brief case-studies

 

Chapter 4 :
Expanding complements and alternatives to state education (2)
Monastic, private, and Chinese education

  1. Monastic education
  2. Private education
  3. Chinese education

 

Chapter 5 :
Beyond Myanmar’s borders : an evolving education landscape

  1. Migration and education after the coup
  2. Evolving dynamics of migrant education in Thailand

 

Concluding chapter :
Education under and beyond the SAC

  1. Time and space : a historical and geographical perspective
  2. Quantity, quality, identity : education under the SAC and beyond

 

Bibliography
List of acronyms
About the authors