Education System in Myanmar :
Self-Evaluation and Future Plans
7. Future Plans
Changes that can directly support the development of the nation will be made to the education system.
7.1 Targets
To implement the future plan, the following specific targets have been identified.
7.1.1 To Provide Primary Compulsory Free Education
The Ministry of Education in Myanmar has made efforts to upgrade free primary education system to free compulsory primary education. Attempts are made to raise the enrollment rate and the completion rate of basic education for all school-age children. As part of the drive for the free compulsory primary education system, the government distributed free textbooks worth of Kyat 2.87 billion to over 5 million primary school students. As a result, the enrollment rate of kindergarten has increased in the 2011-2012 academic year to 98.47%, compared to 91% in the 1999-2000 academic year.
7.1.2 To upgrade the Quality of Basic Education
Upgrading the quality of teacher education and teacher training institutions and all-round development activities are being carried out and will be continued to promote the quality of Basic Education.
7.1.3 To meet the Demand of Community and Industries’ Educated, Skilled Disciplined Workforce
As the vision of the Ministry of Education is to nurture human resources, it is crucial to obtain educated, skilled disciplined workforce that will meet the demand of the community and the national economy.
7.1.4 To make universities as the main provider of the knowledge-based economic system of the nation
It is vital for making universities become the main provider to the knowledge-based economic system of the nation.
7.1.5 To transform the existing universities into internationally recognized universities
It is necessary to make higher education institutions internationally recognized. In trying to do so, the quality of the higher education institutions will be promoted, the standard of the existing universities colleges and schools will be raised, and the abilities of teaching staff will be developed. Moreover, existing universities will collaborate more with international organizations.
7.2 Approaches
7.2.1 Extension of Technical Vocational Schools
In implementing the future plan, with the development in the economic sector, the education sector is going to expand the scope of vocational education by providing incentives to the would-be students, as it is believed that only then, high-skilled, disciplined labour can be produced. Incentives will include free accommodation, tuition fees and job opportunities for them after their graduation. More vocational training programmes will be conducted for career-specific diplomas, degrees and professional certificates.
7.2.2 Creating linkage system for technical vocational schools (TVS) with universities
Arrangements are also being made to link technical vocational programmes with higher education programmes. This will enable graduates to continue with their studies and pursue higher education.
7.2.3 Ensuring capacity building
Another approach is to ensure capacity building by providing more staff training programmes, by introducing 360 degree evaluation programme, and by providing foreign exposure.
7.2.3.1 Providing more staff training programmes
To enhance the quality of human resources, the qualification of faculty members and administrative staff by means of retaining, skill upgrading programmes and apprenticeship programmes are a must. After undergoing trainings and when they can prove themselves proficient, staff certification system can be used to promote them to higher positions or to entrust them with more challenging tasks. More human resource development programmes that meet the market needs will be launched, and practical skills and theoretical knowledge that can be directly applied to the workplace will be taught.
7.2.3.2 Introducing 360 Degree Evaluation System
In order to ensure capacity building of faculty members and administrative staff, arrangements are being made to pay them according to their performances and in evaluating their performance, 360 degree evaluating system will be employed so that they will have a strong sense of professional commitment and a culture of quality that influences every aspect of the operation of their institutions. It is an approach that gathers behavioural observation from many individuals in many layers within the organization. Shifting this responsibility from one individual to many other evaluators reduces the wrong data resulting from an evaluator’s errors or personal bias. In 360-degree evaluation, the role of an evaluator is shared.
7.2.3.3 Providing Foreign Exposure
Another strategy to enhance capacity building is giving faculty members and administrative staff foreign exposure so that they would personally witness the development of other countries by themselves. Innovative international collaborations will be fostered to enhance the capacity of human resources.
7.2.4 Transforming Research and Development Centre (R & D) into Research and Business Development Centre (R & BD) and Establishing Incubation Centres
Nowadays the focus of research works has shifted from research and development to research and business development. The pendulum shift is to encourage researchers to become more business-minded and to have strong interaction with Universities’ Research Centre and practical economic fields. Plans are being made to set up business incubation centres which are made up of entrepreneurs, businessmen and experts from different fields of studies so that they all can combine their workforces for the development of the nation.
7.3 Future Tasks
In order to make our education system a success, there are a number of tasks to be implemented. They are:
1. to open more technical vocational schools that can train high-skilled, disciplined workforces
2. to bridge the TVS and Higher Education Institutions to create opportunities for graduates from TVS to continue with their studies
3. to provide in-house as well as overseas capacity building programmes for faculty members and administrative staff
4. to exploit Distance Education System in bridging TVS and HEI
5. to expand Human Resource Development Programmes that focus on providing trainings on skills and expertise that will directly contribute to the demands of businesses and workplaces
6. to improve the infrastructure of the training institutions equipped with modern teaching aids and maximize the effective utilization of teaching aids
7. to transform Research and Development Centre (R & D) into Research and Business Development Centre (R & BD)
8. to establish incubation centres at all universities
9. to modify curriculums, syllabuses, teaching and learning approaches and assessment systems and overall management system to promote the universities to that of international standard and internationally recognized universities
10. to make changes to university entrance system so that students can pursue the fields of study they take interest in
11. to keep up quality assurance (QA) system
12. to actively collaborate with international education institutions and
13. to enhance revolving fund system for the sustainable development of higher education institutions
Fig 10. The relation of Academic Level and Economic System
The diagram depicts the relation between academic level and economic system. As illustrated in the diagram, the enrolment rate at the primary level is 98.37%, at the lower secondary level 47.16%, at the upper secondary level 30.01% and at the tertiary level 10.15%. It is also to be noted that the country’s economic system has been transforming labour intensive farming to mechanized farming and small scale industry. When looking at the Myanmar economic system, it is found that based on the investment made by the state and improvements in technological know-how, the labour intensive agriculture-based economy has been replaced by such economic systems as mechanized farming- based economy, small scale industry-based economy, heavy industry-based economy, high-tech industry-based economy, knowledge-based economy consecutively and sometimes simultaneously. If there is a fascinating system for those students who have completed the lower secondary level, i.e. Grade 9, to join vocational training schools and job training courses and immediate job prospects can be offered to them, the country’s mechanized farming based economy and small scale industry based economy will be bolstered straight away. A new system should also be created to allow those in workplaces who have finished vocational schools to pursue their University Education through University of Distance Education or Human Resource Development Programmes. They can be expected to support the country’s heavy industry-based economy and high-tech industry-based economy after graduation. At the topmost level, post-graduate students can be regarded as researchers since each and everyone of them will conduct at least a research and can be expected to benefit knowledge-based economy of the country. It is strongly believed that this plan will help to achieve the aim of the Ministry of Education to become the main provider of the knowledge-based economy through education.
Fig 9. The Area that should be Concentrated Most for Education
Development