“In the past, teachers taught students in school very well. Teachers explained the lessons carefully in the class,” she said in an interview.

 “If students had questions or needed explanations of the lesson, teachers would explain in detail, even after school and in the teacher’s home. However, as economic hardship increased in the late 1980’s teachers found it difficult to live on their salaries and began to open private tutorial sessions, outside of school, to make more money.”

She said it became in the best interests of the teachers to pressure the students to attend the private tutorials, so the quality of education in the public school classrooms dropped sharply.

Ma Htet Htet San told us her story and spoke about the state of education in Arakan State during the interview:

I obtained a university degree in engineering. However, I couldn’t find a job in that field with enough salary to support my family. Therefore, I opened a private school on the outskirts of Sittawe city and became a teacher. Being a private school teacher, I can live together with my mother and take care of her.

I collect tuition fees from my students but I cannot get the tuition fees from all students. I have 20 students but I can collect full tuition fees from 10 students. Each student has to pay 30,000 Kyat per month. Only 10 students can afford to pay. Another other five students can pay half of monthly fee. The remaining five cannot afford to pay at all.

I cannot afford to teach all my students for free, however, I will help those I can as a gift to my people.

I also cannot hire many other tutors in my private school because I don’t have enough money. I cannot compete with other private schools in the Sittawe city because I do not have  much money to invest. So, I can hire only one tutor. As a result, I am so busy I don’t have enough time to take a rest.

I work hard and am very tired but I am so happy on the day the results of the final examinations come out and some of my students pass the exams at the end of academic year.

According to my experience for 10 years in the teaching field, I have doubt whether our people have the education and skills to make the right decisions for their future. It’s because even though students pass the exam in elementary level they did not learn the needed study skills to do well in middle level. So, they face problems in high school because they haven’t learned very well before they got there. As a result, students don’t have self-confidence.

Families face economic hardship in Burma. Thus, every family member has to work to support the family. However, even though they are very poor, parents attempt to send their children to school.

A parent told me, “My parents did not pay attention to our education. That’s why we didn’t become educated. As a result, we live in extreme poverty.”

Therefore, as parents, they pay attention to the education of their children and attempt to send their children to school to break this cycle of poverty.

These poor parents rely heavily on the school teachers to educate their children. However, school teachers are struggling to work in an under resourced and corrupt education system.

For example, students regularly cheat in the examination room in the government-run public schools. It is an accepted practice for students to bring notes with the answers to the exam questions into the exam. They cheat because they don’t have confidence because of poor study habits and lack of preparation.

Most students in my private school come from rural areas (countryside). Their parents are very poor. The education they received in the village is very poor quality. When they come to high school they struggle to do the required work. So, they are eager to cheat when they sit in the public school examination room.

When the final exam comes, parents pay bribes to the government teachers so they will ignore the cheating by their children. The teacher permits a student to copy in the examination room, if the student can pay 30,000 Kyat ($30 USD) for each subject to the teacher who is monitoring the exam room. There are six subjects for a high school student. It means a student has to pay 180,000 Ks, if the student wants to copy answers from a notebook for all six subjects in the exam room.

Parents say this situation is unfair.

“In my opinion, it’s obviously discrimination against poor students because children of rich people can afford to pay money and they can easily pass the exam while poor students cannot afford to pay the bribes required. So, they cannot bring any paper,” a parent said.

“I try to learn my best in class. But, many students cheat in the exam room,” a student, who sat the examination for 2010-2011 academic year, said.

“I cannot afford to pay money and I can’t copy answer in the class room. So, I automatically feel depressed.”

Teachers know which students paid the bribe and those who did not. Those who did not are not allowed to copy the answers from cheat notes.

The cheating is not good for the students because the students who buy their pass marks do not receive a good education, which is bad for their future and the future of the country.

However, the teachers say they are struggling for survival in a poor education system in a society ripe with corruption.

“Well, please, try to think about our low salary. We don’t have enough income to survive under the economic hardship in our county. So, we have to open the private classes to earn money,” a school teacher from No. 3 high school in the Sittawe city said.

“And, we have to find ways to earn extra money for our survival. I don’t want to die from starvation when the whole education system operates this way. Everyone is doing it. I have to do it too, to survive.”

In Burma the Pouk Pan (the smell less flower) is very colorful. However, it doesn’t have a fragrant smell, so it is not popular. A flower without a fragrance is useless.

Similarly, a student who passes exams by cheating has no real education and will struggle in life.

I am so worried for the students who don’t have skills and a quality education because they are like Pouk Pan (a smell less flower). Teachers want their students to succeed in life.