Education rights: reports of violations in Burma
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Individual Documents
| Title: | | Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2008 - Chapter 15: Right to Education |
| Date of publication: | | 23 November 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | "A strong education system has long been seen as the standard pre-requisite of overall
national progress for both developed and developing nations. A country populated with
educated citizens generally results in economic growth, innovation, public health and often a
political system that voices the concerns and needs of its people.
To all outward appearances, the SPDC has made legitimate attempts to position itself as a
patron of education for all. In reality, this position amounts to little more than an elaborate
show performed for an international audience. The disparity between government
propaganda and the actual goals of the Burmese education system is striking. The vision of
the Ministry of Education is stated to be, “To create an education system that can generate a
learning society capable of facing the challenges of the Knowledge Age.” 1 In October 2008,
the state-run New Light of Myanmar ran an editorial emphasizing the importance of teachers
providing an all-around developmental experience, stating that teachers should “train and
inculcate the students with knowledge, education and skill as well as with the habit of helping
and understanding others and observing ethics and morality.” 2 Despite these lofty
pronouncements, the SPDC treats the education system as something to be feared,
watching closely as primary school students—when given an opportunity—grow into
university students, who have proven to be some of the government’s most vocal protesters
and opponents. In light of this culture of paranoia and suspicion, the SPDC has erected
multiple barriers to accessing education.
In addition to these obstacles, and despite legislation ensuring free and compulsory primary
education, attending school is often an extravagance families struggle to afford. According
to the United Nations Children’s Fund, while enrolment is high at 80%, less than 55% of
enrolled students complete the primary cycle.3
With this high drop-out rate, the number of children left without significant skills increases,
leaving them highly vulnerable to various exploitive trades, such as forced labour, forced
conscription into the army or the sex trade.
An almost complete lack of free speech and expression results in an environment in which
rote learning is standard, and critical thinking is highly discouraged. If a student manages to
successfully reach the university level, he or she incurs a new level of restrictions from the
junta. University students and their teachers are feared most of all; as a group, they
represent the future of democracy and freedom to their families and the world.
Despite these significant hurdles, the Burmese culture highly values education and parents
place great importance on sending their children to school. The struggle for these families is
in overcoming the junta’s roadblocks in order to achieve their educational goals..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Human Rights Docmentation Unit (HRDU) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (547K) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 06 December 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Mortar attacks, landmines and the destruction of schools in Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 22 August 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | "SPDC abuses against civilians continue in northern Karen State, especially in Lu Thaw township of Papun District. Because these villagers live within non-SPDC-controlled "black areas", the SPDC believes it has justification to attack IDP hiding sites and destroy civilian crops, cattle and property. These attacks, combined with the SPDC and KNLA's continued use of landmines, have caused dozens of injuries and deaths in Papun District alone. Such attacks target the fabric of Karen society, breaking up communities and compromising the educations of Karen youth. In spite of these hardships, the local villagers continue to be resourceful in providing security for their families and education for their children. This report covers events in Papun District from May to July 2008..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Reports (KHRG #2008-F12) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (687 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2008/khrg08f12.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 01 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Road construction, attacks on displaced communities and the impact on education in northern Papun District |
| Date of publication: | | 26 March 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | "In the ongoing offensive against villagers in northern Karen State, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has been working to develop infrastructure supportive of increased military control. The construction of new bases and vehicle roads serve this objective as they obstruct the efforts of local communities to evade army patrols and sustain their livelihoods in areas beyond the reach of SPDC forces. Increased control, in turn, allows the SPDC to more easily exploit rural communities for labour, food and other supplies in support of military structures. This report examines how military deployment and the construction of new roads and bases further into Papun District have led local villagers to respond by evading encroaching army units despite the increasing difficulty of this tactic, and how the subsequent displacement has affected children's access to education..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2007-F3) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (806 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2007/khrg07f3.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 08 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Toungoo District: The civilian response to human rights violations |
| Date of publication: | | 15 August 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | "Attacks on villages in Toungoo and other northern Karen districts by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) since late 2005 have led to extensive displacement and some international attention, but little of this has focused on the continuing lives of the villagers involved. In this report KHRG's Karen researchers in the field describe how these attacks have been affecting local people, and how these people have responded. The SPDC's forced relocation, village destruction, shoot-on-sight orders and blockades on the movement of food and medicines have killed many and created pervasive suffering, but the villagers' continued refusal to submit to SPDC authority has caused the military to fail in its objective of bringing the entire civilian population under direct control. This is a struggle which SPDC forces cannot win, but they may never stop trying..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group Field Report (KHRG #2006-F8) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (588 KB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.khrg.org/khrg2006/khrg06f8.html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 09 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Pa’an District: Land confiscation, forced labour and extortion undermining villagers’ livelihoods |
| Date of publication: | | 11 February 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | "Villagers in northern Pa'an District of central Karen State say their livelihoods are under serious threat due to exploitation by SPDC military authorities and by their Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) allies who rule as an SPDC proxy army in much of the region. Villages in the vicinity of the DKBA headquarters are forced to give much of their time and resources to support the headquarters complex, while villages directly under SPDC control face rape, arbitrary detention and threats to keep them compliant with SPDC demands. The SPDC plans to expand Dta Greh (a.k.a. Pain Kyone) village into a town in order to strengthen its administrative control over the area, and is confiscating about half of the village's productive land without compensation to build infrastructure which includes offices, army camps and a hydroelectric power dam - destroying the livelihoods of close to 100 farming families. Local villagers, who are already struggling to survive under the weight of existing demands, fear further forced labour and extortion as the project continues." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Karen Human Rights Group |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 14 February 2006 |
|
| Title: | | Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2002-03: Rights to Education and Health |
| Date of publication: | | October 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | "Burma has one of the poorest health records and lowest standards of living in the developing world. Health and education are given incredibly low priorities in the national budget, and lip-service to these issues often takes the place of substantial reforms or programs. The root causes of problems in these arenas, such as the affects of landmines and forced labor on health and the effect of school closings and censorship on education, are not dealt with in meaningful ways because of political considerations. Low salaries and lack of transparent and effective supervision has made it easy for corruption to flourish among medical personnel and educators. Patients more often than not have to pay a bribe to be seen by a doctor, get a bed in a hospital or receive essential medicine. Primary school students can pay to receive better grades or get private tutoring from their teachers. Higher education in Burma is particularly substandard with students, during those times that the universities are actually open, being given rush degrees in order to prevent any political opposition to the military regime from springing up on college campuses.
The political situation in Burma has a direct impact on the poor quality of education and healthcare available to the general public. The level of access a person has to health and education infrastructure depends on economic level, geographical location and individual, family or ethnic group relations with the military regime. For example, a Burmese military officer and his family living in Rangoon have access to education and medical treatment that are unavailable to a family that is part of an ethnic and religious minority group living in a conflict area on the border. As yet, the military regime has been unwilling to address these inequalities to ensure that all people living in Burma, regardless of their ethnic group, religion, political affiliation, economic status or geographical location have access to adequate health care and education. (For more information about the health and education situations of specific populations such as refugees, women, children, political prisoners and IDPs, please see appropriate chapters)..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Human Rights Documentation Unit, NCGUB |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 10 November 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Hard Lessons |
| Date of publication: | | July 2003 |
| Description/subject: | | "Falling standards and the culture of fear have crippled Burma’s education system and the country’s future...Schools and universities in Burma require sweeping reform to promote a more equitable, multi-ethnic and multicultural society...
Clearly, the regime ... can continue to promote a culture of fear and watch the complete disintegration of the country’s education system, or it can recognize that future national development will stand a better chance with genuine investments in the education of Burma’s youth today." |
| Author/creator: | | Min Zin |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 11, No 6 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 06 November 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2001-2002: Rights to Education and Health |
| Date of publication: | | September 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | "...Burma has one of the poorest health records and lowest standards of living in the developing world. Health and education are
given incredibly low priorities in the national budget, and lip-service to these issues often take the place of substantial reforms or
programs. Because of political considerations the root causes of problems in these arenas, such as the affects of landmines and
forced labor on health and the effect of school closings and censorship on education, are not dealt with in meaningful ways.
Low salaries and lack of transparent and effective supervision has made it easy for corruption to flourish among medical
personnel and educators. Patients more often than not have to pay a bribe to be seen by a doctor, get a bed in a hospital, or
receive essential medicine. Primary school students can pay to receive better grades or get private tutoring from their teachers.
Higher education in Burma is particularly substandard with students, during those times that the universities are actually open,
being given rush degrees in order to prevent any political opposition to the military regime to spring up on college campuses..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Human Rights Documentation Unit, NCGUB |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2000: Rights of Education and Health |
| Date of publication: | | October 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | "...Burma has one of the poorest health records and lowest standards of living in the developing world. The desire of the military
government to hold on to power at any cost has meant that human rights, including the rights to health and education, are given
scant attention in comparison to political and security issues. Health and education are given incredibly low priorities in the
national budget, and lip-service to these issues often take the place of substantial reforms or programs. Because of political
considerations the root causes of problems in these arenas, such as the affects of landmines and forced labor on health and the
effect of school closings and censorship on education, are not dealt with in meaningful ways..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Human Rights Documentation Unit, NCGUB |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Alternate URLs: | | Main page of the Yearbook: http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/yearbooks/Main.htm |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Learning Behind Bars |
| Date of publication: | | June 2001 |
| Description/subject: | | While most young people in Burma have been deprived of their right to a decent education over the past decade, none have suffered more in this respect than the country's political prisoners. Kyaw Zwa Moe, a former inmate of Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison, recalls the resourcefulness of prisoners determined to keep their minds free. |
| Author/creator: | | Kyaw Zwa Moe |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol 9. No. 5 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Counter Measures |
| Date of publication: | | August 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | Bowing to international pressure, the Burmese junta has opened institutions of higher learning across the country, returning students to their campuses. It appears the junta is calculating that their increased security will prevent a repeat of 1988. |
| Author/creator: | | Moe Gyo/Chiang Mai |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 8. No. 8 |
| Format/size: | | html (6,3k) |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Learning in Limbo |
| Date of publication: | | May 1999 |
| Description/subject: | | Win Htein writes on efforts by Burmese in exile to find ways to educate a neglected generation. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 7. No. 4 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Money for Grades |
| Date of publication: | | May 1999 |
| Description/subject: | | Burma's traditional respect for education has been eroded by years of neglect, government apathy and corruption. This presents a problem for the future of Burma, writes Moe Gyo. |
| Author/creator: | | Moe Gyo |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 7. No. 4 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Cultural Revolution? |
| Date of publication: | | June 1997 |
| Description/subject: | | Recently, Burma's Education Ministry has postponed the opening of schools and universities indefinitely. The reason, analysts believe, is that military officials hope to avoid any incidents that could complicate the country's July induction into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In December, colleges and universities were immediately shut down during student unrest. Since the 1988 democracy uprising, schools in Burma have been shut down frequently. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 5. No. 3 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
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