Exiled government establishes alternative HE programmes

Unsafe conditions for teaching and learning at universities after the Myanmar military coup, coupled with almost 18 months of university and college closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic and boycotts by students and teachers involved in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), have left huge gaps in higher education learning and provision.

To address this problem, the Ministry of Education under Myanmar’s exiled National Unity Government (NUG) announced an Interim Advanced Education initiative which began in June.

Online and offline teaching will enable students to study at home and ensure some education can continue despite the fighting and unrest in the country.

NUG was set up by Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, a group of elected lawmakers ousted by the February 2021 military coup, and comprises representatives of Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and ethnic minority groups.

Alternative, but limited, online learning services like Spring University Myanmar (SUM) have also appeared as an alternative higher education and vocational education option for Myanmar youth.

Thura (not his real name), co-founder and president of SUM, who obtained his masters degree from the National University of Singapore, said the university takes into account the education policies set out by NUG and will try to complement them as part of its longer-term plans.

“We are prepared to assist the NUG Ministry of Education for this interim period and beyond,” Thura told University World News.

“Possible areas of support include credit transfers, inclusive education for rural demographics, and federal education,” he said, referring to the decentralised system proposed by NUG where different regions or ethnic groups have their own education policies.

SUM also aims to raise funds to support CDM academics and professionals threatened by the military regime and to mobilise emergency responses for vulnerable communities such as internally displaced persons in special camps and refugees who fled their homes due to the conflict, low-income families and COVID patients, he said, adding that the university started with fundraising for exam preparation classes for English-proficiency tests such as IELTS.

In June SUM had 18 courses running within five schools of study, or departments, and for July it aims to run up to 25 courses in eight schools, with an active faculty of 78, including lead teachers, assistant teachers and curriculum developers. This could increase in future, according to Thura.

Certificate courses

All classes are run virtually via the Zoom platform with direct supervision from the teachers. The SUM website should be ready by August, Thura explained.

The university still faces complications such as registering SUM as a legal entity with private, non-profit status to apply for international accreditation, he said, noting it is currently impossible to register SUM in Myanmar.

“There are mounting challenges but staying resilient is the most important trait in these turbulent times,” he said.

“For certain areas such as federal studies courses under the school of peace studies and federalism, we are partnering with established organisations to co-create curricula and for teacher recruitment.

“It is part of our mission to offer employment opportunities for CDM teachers, many of whom face security risks and limited internet access, and we are trying our best to accommodate them,” Thura said.

Currently SUM is only offering certificate courses.

“It is one of our priorities to offer certified courses, either long term or short term, to students and we aim to develop diploma programmes by early next year. We are grateful for all the contributions and offers of help from local and international academics, experts and friends, and will try our best to accredit those programmes,” Thura said.

Collapsing education, health and economic sectors

Ongoing nationwide strikes as part of CDM by Myanmar professionals opposing the military regime and the latest serious COVID-19 outbreak have pummelled the country’s economy, health sector and education, which are facing collapse.

The military government re-opened universities in the first week of May after they were closed for over a year from March 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, an estimated 90% of students across the country refused to register or attend classes, according to student unions.

Universities across Myanmar closed again in mid-July after the country faced a severe COVID-19 outbreak from the first week of June. According to university teachers, the military government did not officially announce the closing of universities as the COVID-19 surge meant students were not on campuses or attending classes.

Security issues

The biggest challenge is the security risk, Thura acknowledged. The military arrests and threatens those involved in CDM and many are now in hiding for their own safety. Most teachers and the management teams are on the run and the university has brought in strict protocols for communication and protecting identities, he said.

“Traditionally, education is built on trust – students and their parents are eager to know the portfolio of teachers. Previously students wanted to see teachers’ faces but now we cannot disclose which teacher will be conducting which course,” Thura said.

“Despite this, we are humbled that hundreds of students have believed in SUM classes without seeing the name or photo of the instructor.”

More than 700 students were enrolled in Spring University Myanmar in June 2021, with an additional 1,000 or more students expected for July. Most students are from urban areas such as Yangon and Mandalay.

New programmes to reach out to other demographics are being developed.

“Another area of hardship would be inequality. It is a necessity that we collect fees for our courses in order to fundraise and we only run online, so we are saddened that our model severely limits accessibility for many students.

“This is an area we are trying to improve with support from international partners who have long dedicated themselves to Myanmar’s democratic front,” Thura said.

“We have kept expenses for academics and operations to a minimum, and all proceeds and profits from current classes are donated to those in need,” he said, adding, “We are looking for additional revenue channels such as grants and donations to be put into the SUM reserve fund or endowment in the future.

In June 2021 donations made by SUM to CDM academics and vulnerable communities totalled MMK18,772,900 (more than US$11,000) in cash transfers, in-kind support, scholarships, and training of trainers programmes in computer science and digital literacy to CDM teachers.

Each school can have a say in where the donations are allocated. Beneficiaries include teachers suspended because of their CDM involvement and refugees in border areas.

“We are hopeful that for July alone donations would be more than MMK250 lakh [MMK25 million or US$15,200],” Thura said.

NUG plans

The NUG Ministry of Education has also started the first short courses for final-year masters degree students and final-year undergraduate students of medicine, law, international relations, political science, history, philosophy, anthropology and civil engineering; as well as technical education courses for second-year college students and also pre-university introductory courses for students who have passed the school-leaving matriculation exam.

The courses are in the form of a lecture series which are extended to the public with open live streams on Facebook, YouTube and other social media.

Ja Htoi Pan, NUG deputy education minister, told University World News that final-year classes will be the first priority for this year.

“We are offering short courses such as federalism and human rights that are in line with the revolutionary period,” she said, referring to the period since the coup.

“However, there are not many plans this year to continue normal higher education as before [the coup],” she said, adding that they are “preparing to connect with international universities for the coming year”.

The NUG plans are little more than a stop-gap measure in difficult times, with many students having only limited internet access.

“This interim academic programme [set up] by the NUG is just for students who don’t want to be left behind in their education in the interim period,” a final-year medical student at the University of Medicine 2, Yangon told University World News. He is currently in hiding as he is active in the university students’ union and recently tested positive for COVID-19.

An English lecturer at Hpa-an University told University World News that CDM teachers have been trying to contact the NUG but are finding it difficult to do so currently. She described the NUG government as an “infant government”. Some CDM university teachers are also trying to join other alternative teaching services, she added.

“I am involved in a CDM teachers’ group chat and we were asked by our group leader to give our names if we want to teach the subjects that we specialise in. Most CDM teachers are already teaching students online for free,” she said.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), 922 people are now confirmed killed by the military junta. This is the number verified by AAPP; the actual number of fatalities is likely much higher.

As of 20 July, a total of 5,315 people are in detention; 255 people have been sentenced in person, and, of these, 26 have been sentenced to death (including two children).

Some 1,963 are evading arrest warrants – 118 have been sentenced in absentia, of whom 39 were sentenced to death in absentia. In total, 65 have been sentenced to death, in person and in absentia.