The Kayan Ethnic Literature Curriculum Drafting Team has started drafting a new curriculum for primary level Kayan literature from Grade-1 to Grade-3 after the team was established by the Kayan Literature and Culture Central Committee.
Khun Hlwee Si from the Kayan Ethnic Literature Curriculum Drafting Team said a draft version of the curriculum will be drafted within this month and will be submitted to the Kayah (Karenni) State government.
“We were told to draft a draft curriculum from Grade-1 to Grade-3 within this month and submit the project after it is drafted. The government and the UNICEF will provide budget as much as they can. So, we are working on the draft,” he said.
The new curriculum is being drafted separately for the Kayan people instead of the previous curriculum where the text is directly translated from the Burmese curriculum.
The primary level curriculum will include basic Kayan alphabets, cartoons, and greetings in the Kayan language.
Daw Sophia, a teacher who is teaching Kayan literature in a primary school in Daw Ngan Yauk Village, said it is easier for the children to learn Kayan literature using the existing curriculum as they have already been taught in Burmese before.
“In this curriculum, the children have already been taught in Burmese so it’s easier for them to learn when they are taught in Kayan. I think it would be better to pair Kayan sentences with Burmese sentences in the drafting of the new curriculum,” she said.
She added that there are a few difficulties in teaching the curriculum even though it is going well.
The Kayah State government has instructed the drafting of a new curriculum for six ethnic languages in the Kayah State, namely the Kayan, Kayah, Kayaw, Yintale, Kawyar, and Gaybar.
The curriculum has to be drafted from Grade-1 to Grade-9 and the new curriculum for Kayan literature will only be drafted for Grade-1 to Grade-3 this year.
Khun Hlwee Si said the new curriculum may likely be taught in the upcoming 2019-2010 academic year.
He said there are difficulties in drafting the curriculum.
“We have to use our money if we want to hold a conference. We have to draft it on our own manpower so there are financial difficulties. Also, the expert…. We don’t have any supporting pictures or designs ready when we are drafting the curriculum so the curriculum is not proceeding as well as we want,” he explained.
This curriculum is only for the Kayah State and no instruction has been issued to draft the curriculum for the Kayan people living in the Shan State, the Karen (Kayin) State, and Nay Pyi Taw Council area, he added.
The curriculum writers expect the new curriculum to become the curriculum that can be used in the entire Kayan area.
Kayan literature has been taught outside school hours in government schools since 2012-2013 academic year.
Around 300 Kayan teachers from 240 government schools are teaching Kayan literature in the Kayan area in this 2018-19 academic year.
