Lack of teachers will affect education well into the future

The death of dozens of teachers and students, arrests, torture, injury by land mines and attacks have had a devastating impact on Myanmar’s education system that will last well into the future.

Teacher training colleges and universities are struggling to function and find graduate-qualified teachers to replace those killed or arrested, experts said.

Myanmar’s Basic Education Teachers Union is conducting a survey of the losses and challenges faced by basic education teachers who joined the peaceful protests and boycotts known as the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) after the military coup in February 2021 that overthrew Myanmar’s elected government and others who have taken up arms.

However, no union or group is conducting a similar survey for teachers in higher education, apart from documenting the number of arrests.

The Myanmar Teachers’ Federation said in 2021 that in the three months after the coup, more than 125,000 school teachers and 19,500 university lecturers were suspended by the military authorities for joining the CDM, though some were later invited to return under certain conditions.

“Many teachers, students and education personnel joined the CDM. Among them, many young teachers pursuing degrees in education have become resistance fighters, some of whom have lost their lives. More than five of my students have already given their lives in battle,” Winnie, principal of Education Degree College of Karenni told University World News.

Education Degree College of Karenni, in Karenni state (also known as Kayah state), was set up by the Karenni State Interim Executive Council, a provisional provincial government that unites the different anti-Junta resistance groups which control territory in the state. The Council has set up five universities and colleges in the state which it administers.

The aim is to turn out qualified teachers to meet the teaching needs of interim schools set up by NUG. They also offer opportunities for the CDM teachers who want to pursue higher education. Winnie, who has a masters degree in teaching, joined the CDM from an education degree college.

CDM personnel perish

The CDM education personnel have lost their lives not only as a result of battles, but also because of insufficient health care and depression, as well as financial crises and insecurities, she noted.

A recent graduate from Yangon University of Education, formerly known as a teacher training college, died in a battle last year after becoming a resistance fighter.

Teacher Mahn Yeik was in his 20s and worked in the department of education, research, planning and training in the Ministry of Education before the coup, developing a fine arts curriculum for schools. He joined the CDM and became a resistance fighter in the Cobra Column Unit (3), an ethnic army in Kayin State. He died in battle on 4 November 2024.

U Win Htay, a CDM teacher and education officer for NUG’s education board in Kani township, in the Sagaing region, was killed along with his wife and four-month-old daughter on the evening of 4 November 2024. The case is being investigated by NUG as a possible murder.

The situation is aggravated by the many teachers who have been arrested and imprisoned.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, a human rights organisation in Myanmar and Thailand, told University World News that 174 CDM teachers have been arrested in the four years since the military coup.

Of these, 146 teachers are still in prison and five have been given life sentences. In 2021, a high school teacher in Mandalay died during interrogation in a police station shortly after his arrest.

Higher education courses for teachers

The NUG is attempting to fill some of the gaps.

A one-year diploma course in teacher education has already ended at Education Degree College of Karenni, which is currently running a second semester course for second-year students who joined CDM while they were still studying at universities of education.

Winnie wants to offer a bachelor degree programme at her college, but there aren’t enough master’s degree holders in the state to teach it, so the college can only offer a diploma. Only two teachers at her college have master’s degrees in teacher education.

Financial support is provided to the college by Karenni's Arts Creation (KAC), a Karenni-led organisation that uses films to promote traditional Karenni arts and culture. The University of Teaching, an online university founded after the coup for CDM students, offers academic assistance, providing the curriculum, pedagogic theory, and collaboration with teachers.

“Schools in my Karenni state have dealt with insufficient resources since before the coup. For instance, interim basic education schools are currently run mainly by volunteers who finished their degree during this revolution, and they struggle in teaching,” Winnie said.

Some CDM education personnel are unable to offer their services to education as volunteers because they have to prioritise earning a living. A teaching volunteer at the college receives only a meagre monthly stipend from the KAC of K100,000 (US$22).

“The stipend is not enough for a teacher to make ends meet. Instead, they look for other work for survival. This is a loss as well,” she said.

“Young teachers who have become resistance fighters are not intent on going back to education. Even after this revolution, some teachers do not want to return to schools. Even though resistance fighters play an important role for the country, this is a loss for us,” she said.

Fears about quality of education

The lack of qualified teachers also affects the Junta’s Ministry of Education-run schools. According to a report by the local Mandalay Free Press-MFP, more than 4,000 non-CDM teachers were permitted to enrol last month in Sagaing University of Education’s distance learning programme for a bachelor degree in education – without having to sit an entrance exam.

Previously, admission to universities of education required an entrance exam and some applicants also had to show years of school service to be admitted.

“Before being admitted to the University of Education, I had to take an entrance exam. Only those who pass the exam are eligible. It wasn’t that easy,” Thet Htet San, a retired high school teacher and education graduate, told University World News.

She added that the test was based on the curriculum of grades 10 and 11 (for 14- and 15-year-olds). Some teachers even attempted the exam three times during the course of their careers to get admitted.

“The military council’s easy admission will only bring about unqualified teachers,” she said. Principal Winnie said that students taught by poorly qualified teachers will not become well qualified themselves.