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PRIMARY AND SECONDARY

EDUCATION IN MYANMAR

Challenges Facing Current Reforms

Brooke Zobrist and Patrick McCormick^1

INTRODUCTION

Since the political changes starting in 2011, the new quasi-civilian Myanmar

government has announced a number of reforms to the education sector.

For several decades before that, Myanmar had spent far less on education

than any of its neighbours. When a government has failed to provide

adequate education to enough citizens, many embrace decentralization as a

strategy to improve their education system, often with the encouragement

of international advisors and donors. The Myanmar government has stated

that decentralization is a goal for their provision of basic education. It has

also stated its intention to increase funding and the number of schools and

teachers, increase the number of years of compulsory education, reform

the curriculum, draft an education law, and reach out to non-state actors

that have signed ceasefire agreements with the central government.

Against this background of long-term underfunding and neglect,

what is the nature of, and prospects for, decentralization in education in

Reproduced from Education and Globalization in Southeast Asia: Issues and Challenges, edited by
Lee Hock Guan (Singapore: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, 2017). This version was obtained electronically direct
from the publisher on condition that copyright is not infringed. No part of this publication may be reproduced
without the prior permission of the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.
Individual articles are available at http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg.