Ethnic Education and Mother Tongue-Based Teaching in Myanmar
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Schooling and Conflict: Ethnic Education and Mother Tongue-based Teaching in Myanmar Ashley South and Marie Lall February 2016 Acknowledgements Our thanks go to the respondents in Mon, Kachin and Karen (Kayin) and Kachin States as well as those we met in Yangon and other parts of Myanmar, Thailand and China. Particular thanks to the Mon National Education Committee and to Mi Sar Dar and Mi Kun Chan Non, to Mi Morchai, and to friends in Myitkyina including Saya- ma Lu Awn and Michael Mun Awng. We would also like to thank Sumlut Gun Maw, all at Mai Ja Yang College,- Nai Hongsa and P’doh Tah Do Moo, and Alan Smith, Matt Desmond, Professor Joe Lo Bianco, and Professor Chayan Vaddhanaphuti. Thanks to Michael Woods and Pharawee Koletschka for copy-editing. About the authors Dr. Ashley South is an independent analyst and consultant. He has a PhD from the Australian National Uni- versity and an MSc from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS, University of London), and is a Re- search Fellow at the Centre for Ethnic Studies and Development at Chiang Mai University. His primary research interests include ethnic politics in Myanmar/Burma and Mindanao (armed conflict and comparative peace processes, politics of language and education, peacebuilding policy and practice), humanitarian protection and forced migration (refugees and internally displaced people). For a list of Dr. South’s publications, see: www. AshleySouth.co.uk. Professor Marie Lall, FRSA is a South Asia expert (India, Pakistan and Burma/Myanmar) specialising in political issues and education. She has over 20 years of experience in the region, conducting extensive fieldwork and has lived both in India and Pakistan. She has written widely on these topics and is the author/editor of five books and a monograph. Professor Lall has advised the German Ministry for Development and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), as well as Chinese, Canadian, French, and Norwegian ministerial/embassy staff. She is part of a team that trains the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s South Asia team. She is recognised in the UK as a country expert by the Asylum and Immigration Court. She was until 2014 AUSAID’s senior education advisor for fragile states (Myanmar). She is also an education advisor to The Citizens Foun- dation (TCF), Pakistan and Myanmar Egress. She is a Professor in Education and South Asian Studies at the UCL Institute of Education. She has held a number of fellowships and visiting posts at renowned universities in Japan, Australia, Germany, India and Pakistan. She received her MPhil from Cambridge in 1993 and her PhD from the London School of Economics in 1999. Preface Education and language policies and practices are at the heart of ethnic conflicts in Myanmar. For decades, the state has emphasized a centralized, Myanmar language only education system that many ethnic groups felt provided no place for their own languages to be practiced which by extension, threatened their cultures and ethnic identities. The country’s democratic transition of the past few years, however, has enabled issues of mother tongue-based education (MTB) to be discussed more openly, and growing acceptance of decentraliza- tion within the government at all levels and among the wider public is providing an opening for consideration of how MTB education can be productively integrated into the education system. The discourse on inclusive education and language policy in Myanmar is still very nascent, although it is a criti- cal element in the ongoing search for a lasting peace in Myanmar. Given that different education systems from the one administered by the state have emerged in areas controlled by ethnic armed groups, it is important to understand these existing education structures to better assess their strengths and weaknesses and the potential for convergence with state standards. In this context, The Foundation is pleased to present this research report on the state of MTB education in contested areas in Myanmar, specifically in the Kachin, Mon and Karen context, by Ashley South and Marie Lall who have long been engaged in researching this important topic. While ethnic education and MTB teaching have become more prominent in the peace process dialogue, it is also important to remember that how they will be formulated and implemented will have life-changing impact on Myanmar’s students and children living in conflict-affected areas. We hope that the Foundation’s research agenda, of which this paper is a part of, will support key actors and the wider public in contributing to an inclusive discussion in and around the peace process. The primary funding for this report came from the American people through the United States Agency for International Develop- ment (USAID), which was managed by the Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI), with additional contributions from the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and The Asia Foundation. The views expressed in the report are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Govern- ment, DAI, DFID or the Foundation. Dr. Kim N.B. Ninh Country Representative, Myanmar The Asia Foundation Table of Contents Acronyms .................................................................................................................................................. i Executive Summary .................................................................................................................................. ii Section ONE: Objectives of the Project .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Methodology ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Section TWO: Background ..................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 MTB and ethnic education in Myanmar ............................................................................................ 3 2.1.1 Mon .......................................................................................................................................... 4 2.1.2 Karen .................................................................................................................................... .... 4 2.1.3 Kachin ....................................................................................................................................... 6 2.2 The peace process and the Ethnic Armed Groups ............................................................................. 7 2.3 State education reforms .................................................................................................................... 10 2.4 The 2015 elections ............................................................................................................................ 11 Section THREE: Themes and Issues ....................................................................................................... 13 3.1 Language rights ................................................................................................................................. 13 3.2 Relationship between education and conflict ................................................................................... 13 3.3 Models of MTB education systems ................................................................................................... 16 3.3.1 Kachin ....................................................................................................................................... 18 3.3.2 Mon .......................................................................................................................................... 19 3.4 Policy issues ....................................................................................................................................... 20 3.4.1 Mon ........................................................................................................................................... 21 3.4.2 Kachin ....................................................................................................................................... 22 3.4.3 Karen ........................................................................................................................................ 23 3.5 ‘Convergence’ .................................................................................................................................... 23 3.5.1 Mon ........................................................................................................................................... 23 3.5.2 Kachin ....................................................................................................................................... 24 3.5.3 Karen ........................................................................................................................................ 25 3.6 Needs and challenges ........................................................................................................................ 25 3.6.1 IDP camp school ...................................................................................................................... 26 3.6.2 Accreditation ............................................................................................................................ 26 3.7 Political and education reforms ........................................................................................................