Educational challenges and expectancy of non-governmental education leaders in armed conflict areas in Myanmar

Han Ko Lin

Volume 4 Issue 4, December 2023

Abstract

Myanmar is a country with long-term internal conflict with many ethnic minority children suffering from the lack of access to quality education. To solve the issue, non-governmental schools have been built in armed conflict areas. However, the schools are dealing with many challenges such as lack of resources or threat to security. At present, there is a knowledge gap in the practices of non-governmental school leaders in tackling the challenges and their expectancy to provide quality education to their students. Therefore, this study explored the educational challenges and expectancy of non-governmental leaders from Kachin State and Shan State in Myanmar through interviews to assist policy makers and other stakeholders in crafting inclusive education in the country. There are three major parts in the findings: challenges, overcoming methods, and the opportunities the leaders are seeking. The findings suggest the urgent need of cooperation between the government and ethnic armed organisations on the education of the children, changes in national curriculum, and teacher education. Due to the sample size of this qualitative study, the findings may not be generalised for all the ethnic groups in Myanmar. However, they can help policy makers and other stakeholders with policies for inclusive education as they reflect the real life experience of those working in education sector in armed conflict areas.

Keywords

Author information & Contribution

Disclosure statement

Funding

Institutional Review Board Statement

AI Declaration

Notes

Acknowledgement

References

AlMunifi, A. A., & Aleryani, A. Y. (2021). Internal efficiency of Higher education system in armed conflict-affected countries-Yemen case. International journal of educational development, 83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102394

Alvesson, M., & Sveningsson, S. (2003). The great disappearing act: difficulties in doing “leadership”. The Leadership Quarterly, 14(3), 359-381. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(03)00031-6

Asia News Monitor. (2016). Myanmar (Burma): Kachin IDP Youths Share War Hardships With NLD Patron.

Asia News Monitor. (2019). Myanmar (Burma): Displaced by Clashes Over Amber, Villagers in Myanmar’s Kachin State Risk Death to Secretly Mine It.

Asia News Monitor. (2020). Myanmar (Burma): Displaced Children in Western Myanmar Unable to Attend Reopening Schools.

Berker, A. (2014). Effects of armed conflict on educational outcomes in turkey. Alternatif Politika, 6(2), 195-253.

Bhola, H. S. (2006). Access to education: a global perspective. In Widening Access to Education as Social Justice Essays in Honor of Michael Omolewa (1st ed. 2006. ed.). Dordrecht : Springer Netherlands : Imprint: Springer.

Bigagli, F. (2019). School, ethnicity and nation-building in post-colonial Myanmar. Research in Educational Policy and Management, 1(1), 1-16.

Creswell, J. W. (2012). The Process of Conducting Research Using Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches. In Educational Research : Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Pearson Education. http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/flinders/detail.action?docID=5812713

Davis, M. (2010). Children: The new face of war ProQuest Dissertations Publishing].

E. Oghenekohwo, J., & A. Frank-Oputu, E. (2017). Literacy Education and Sustainable Development in Developing Societies. International journal of education and literacy studies, 5(2), 126-131. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.5n.2p.126

Farooq, M. S., & Kai, Y. T. (2016). The Role of READ (Rural Education and Development) Foundation in Quality Education of Pakistan. Journal of Education and Practice, 7(19). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1109243.pdf

Hassan, A., & Fan, I.-S. (2016). Obstacles hindering tqm implementation in secondary schools in Saudi Arabia. In International conference on education and new developments 2016 (pp. 78). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED578322.pdf

Hong, M. S. (2021). Being and becoming ‘dropouts’: contextualizing dropout experiences of youth migrant workers in transitional Myanmar. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 34(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2020.1717665

Irrawaddy, T. (2019). Civilian Killed as Myanmar Military Shells Village in Rakhine, Claims AA Attacked First. https://www.irrawaddy.com/news/burma/civilian-killed-myanmar-military-shells-village-rakhine-claims-aa-attacked-first.html

Jones, A., & Naylor, R. (2014). The quantitative impact of armed conflict on education: Counting the human and financial cost. CfBT Education Trust.

Kossingou, G., Ndassimba, N., Ndassimba, E., Gueye, K., & Ouya, S. (2020). Proposal of the Solution of Virtual Basic Schools in Rural Areas of African Countries in Conflict: Case of the Central African Republic. ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/3386723.3387900

Lall, M. (2020). Myanmar’s Education Reforms: A pathway to social justice? UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781787353695

Le, H. M. (2021). Language, education, and power in refugee camps: A comparison of Kakuma Refugee Camp (Kenya) and Thai-Myanmar refugee camps. Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE), 23(1).

Lwin, T. (2019). Global justice, national education and local realities in Myanmar: a civil society perspective. Asia Pacific Education Review, 20(2), 273-284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-019-09595-z

Lwin, T. (2021). Challenges and Opportunities for Educational Reform: Under the New Myanmar Government. In Social Transformations in India, Myanmar, and Thailand: Volume I Social, Political and Ecological Perspectives (1st ed. 2021. ed.). Singapore : Springer Singapore : Imprint: Palgrave Macmillan.

Merrouche, O. (2011). The Long Term Educational Cost of War: Evidence from Landmine Contamination in Cambodia. The Journal of Development Studies, 47(3), 399-416. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2010.485633

Meyerhof, N. (2016). PIONEERING AUTHENTIC EDUCATION. In International conference on education and new developments 2016 (pp. 102). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED578322.pdf

Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. (n.d.). The 8 Major National Ethnic Races in Myanmar. https://web.archive.org/web/20071220174829/http://www.myanmar.gov.mm/ministry/hotel/fact/race.htm

Nyein, N. (2019). Timeline: 70 Years of Ethnic Armed Resistance Movements in Myanmar. The Irrawaddy. https://www.irrawaddy.com/specials/timeline-70-years-ethnic-armed-resistance-movements-myanmar.html#:~:text=According%20to%20data%20released%20by,ethnicities%20and%20smaller%20insurgent%20groups.

Oh, S.-A., Walker, M., & Thako, H. (2019). Karen Education and Boundary-Making at the Thai-Burmese Borderland. Journal of Borderlands Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/08865655.2019.1685401

Pechdina, W., & Ahmad, M. M. (2022). Revisiting critical consequences from armed conflicts in the Shan State, Myanmar: Implications for border development of Chiang Mai province, Thailand. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences(43), 1067–1074.

Richards, B., Umayahara, M., Maw, N., & Rao, N. (2021). Early Childhood Education, Language of Instruction, and Child Development in Myanmar: Comparisons among Ethnolinguistic Groups. Early education and development, 32(3), 421-442. https://doi.org/10.1080/10409289.2020.1755179

Shanks, K. (2019). The Politics of IDP Education Provision: Negotiating identity and schooling in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. International Migration, 57(2), 32-47. https://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12545

Smith, T. M. (2003). Who values the GED? An examination of the paradox underlying the demand for the general educational development credential. Teachers College Record, 105(3), 375-415.

South, A., & Lall, M. (2016). Language, Education and the Peace Process in Myanmar. Contemporary Southeast Asia: A Journal of International and Strategic Affairs, 38(1), 128-153. https://doi.org/10.1353/csa.2016.0009

South, A., & Lall, M.-C. (2016). Schooling and conflict: Ethnic education and mother tongue-based teaching in Myanmar. USAID.

Thomson, P., Gunter, H., & Blackmore, J. (2014). Educational leadership and Hannah Arendt. London, New York : Routledge.

UNESCO. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals. https://en.unesco.org/sustainabledevelopmentgoals

UNICEF. (2016). Education 2030: Incheon declaration and framework for action: towards inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning for all.

United Nations. (1949). Universal declaration of human rights. New York? : United Nations Dept. of Public Information.

Wong, M. S. (2019). The peace dividend of valuing non- dominant languages in language-in- education policies in myanmar. Forum for International Research in Education, 5(3), 49-68.

Yeo, S., Gagnon, T., & Thako, H. (2020). Schooling for a Stateless Nation: The Predicament of Education without Consensus for Karen Refugees on the Thailand-Myanmar Border. Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, 8(1), 29-55. https://doi.org/10.18588/202005.00a111

Cite this article:

Han Ko Lin (2023). Educational challenges and expectancy of non-governmental education leaders in armed conflict areas in Myanmar. International Journal of Educational Management and Development Studies, 4 (4), 61-80. https://doi.org/10.53378/353022