It is not a surprise to witness that people in Burma are being blinded by the governing regime though their thirst for 'vision of truth' is very much glowing. The regime that has bonded rights to education as a hostage has always been and is a mere spectator for the world which is lost without hope to regain it.
After reopening briefly in May 1991, the regime pursued a policy of separating and isolating students so that they could to contact each other. Iron fences have been built around universities in and around Burma and campuses were closed again after demonstrations in Rangoon University and during student celebrations following the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The regime-controlled education system has resulted in sub-standard education, critical lack of teaching facilities, unskilled teachers, and lack of job opportunities after graduation, corruption and bribery. The vastly deteriorating economic situation also forces students to leave schools even when they are functioning. Given the high drop-out rate of children in primary school, fewer students continue their education at middle and high school levels. Till now the military junta has not been able to solve the basic problems of students. They are constantly using closure of universities as a weapon to stop students' demonstrations for their rights.
The prolonged closure of schools has affected the future of almost all young Burmese. Only those with political influence, such as the children of the generals, and those rich enough enjoy uninterrupted and quality education. The regime, in addition, has lowered the academic standards by reducing school terms; four year degree courses have been lessened to a year or a year and a half. Since no independent educational institutions are permitted, students are unable to study out of the formal education system. The closing down of universities for seven years in the past decade resulted in most students not able to complete their undergraduate courses. Many secondary schools also suffer from poor funding and shortages of materials.
The woes of teachers are no less. They can earn on an average less than US$ 25 to 30 a month. Many earn ten times their salary through private tutoring which again lead to the infiltration of mass unfair means during examinations and in academic terms or partiality. The teachers who cannot bear such conditions leave the country; those teachers who do not get much privilege or are patriotic try their best against the military regime and serve the country within the constraints. Ethnic minority teachers are the ones to suffer gross human rights violation. The teaching or research of any ethnic minority language is not permitted in any secondary school or tertiary institutes. Critics of the system allege that the policy of teaching only Burmese and no other languages in government schools is simply a means of imposing discipline and control.
The Burma Army during its attempts to unify the country by force is reported to enforce a law that schools near areas of conflict that teach in ethnic languages are the first to be "dismantled" and many children are thus denied education in their own language and culture. Two other groups in Burma that have historically been denied educational opportunities have been children of Chinese and Indian ancestry. Under a strict 1982 Citizenship Law, people of Chinese and Indian ancestry must prove that their ancestors have resided in Burma since 1824 during the first British annexation, a requirement which is almost impossible to fulfill. As university entrance is only open to Burmese nationals, this bars many from studying for a university degree despite having lived all their lives in Burma.
The other factor that shows there is no freedom of choice in education is that those who finished high school cannot choose any subject of their interest. The condition is the students have to take the subjects according to their matriculation marks whether they like it or not. Students have no rights to speak, or discuss matters that will affect their educational life. The example is the repeated changes of curriculum and the phase of trial education. The students have no right to criticize, to complain, to question. Sometimes they don't even have the right to know that such things are taking place.
In most of the affiliated schools, villagers themselves have to build the schools and hire teachers at their own expense. In some places there is only one primary school for five villages. There are no schools in the border areas and the only choice of the poor is the Monastic schools which only give primary education. In these schools not to mention teaching, even stationery is not enough and so the students have to use slate and slate pencils. Concerning the above case, the question arises where has the educational aid's given by the international organizations gone. This aid goes to Military Medical University, and the Military Engineering University. These military universities are not closed as ordinary universities. The aid is abundant in military universities. Modern technology is provided in these universities. When internationally well-known scholars come to visit Burma, they are allowed to give lectures only at these universities.
While in India education has been a major seat of learning for thousands of years. Apart from taking primary education as a challenge it strives to achieve 100 percent literacy maintaining quality of education in rural areas. Up to the 17th century and the few centuries preceding, India saw the flourishing of higher education in Arts, Architecture, Painting, Philosophy and Literature among others and under British Rule that indigenous education was widespread in the 18th century with its western style and content. After independence, The Central Government's only obligation was to co-ordinate technical and higher education and specify standards. This continued till 1976, when education became a joint responsibility of the state and the Centre.
Nowadays the Indian Education System is generally marks-based and the government has introduced a grades-based system in the hope that it will help students to move away from the cut-throat competition and rote-learning and will be able to focus on creative aspects and personality development as well. India has a large number of Distance education programmes in Undergraduate and Post-Graduate levels. By 1985 many of the larger Universities recognized the need and potential of distance education in a poor and populous country like India and launched degree level programmes through distance education. The trend caught on, and today many prestigious Indian Universities offer distance programmes. But many people also criticize the caste, language and religion based reservation system in education. Many allege that very few of the weaker castes get the benefit of reservations and that forged caste certificates abound. Educational institutions also can seek religious minority (non-Hindu) or linguistic minority status. Student politics is also a major issue, as many institutions are run by politicians.
The Indian Government expenditure on Education has greatly increased since the First five year plan. The Government of India has highly subsidized higher education. Nearly 97 percent of the Central Government expenditure on elementary education goes towards the payment of teachers' salaries. While in Burma the educational aid's given by international organizations goes to military schools and universities. The annual budget allocated in 2005 by the government was low; only about 1.2 percent is spent per year on education. Since the 1990's the education system was weak in Burma. The education budget allocated was still inadequate in 2006 nor has free education for primary students been implemented till now.
The big issues of the education system that attract Human Rights organization from all over the world are that there is no guarantee. In 2000, the SPDC laid down a 30-year education plan focusing on improvements in the basic education sector but the failure to reopen the universities which have been closed since December 1996 continues as does the increasing number of jobless graduates and mass migration to foreign countries for job opportunities. The misplacement of job seekers, show that the education system cannot guarantee job opportunities. The SPDC highlights the number of universities and schools rather than the quality of education given. In fact, most universities in Burma lack teaching aids, laboratory materials and human resources. In the 2005-2006 academic year, there was no significant development in education and the drop out rate is still high. The elimination of an education system that supports political monism is still very much there.
To immediately reopen all the schools and universities in the country unconditionally and at the same time maintain a free and unbiased educational programme all over Burma still remains a dream for the people of the 'Lost hostage'.
