A special picture of Shredagon Paya - the largest stupa in the world. Special because I took it. It's a memory cocktail for me. It was visible out of our apartment and a ten-minute walk away. Enchanting, mystical and stunningly beautiful. A symbol of the gentle people who inhabit this country and their beautiful culture.
My wife and I had the unique opportunity to live and work in Myanmar for about 6 months in 2004. It was the experience of a lifetime and one that I thought worth sharing with Global Expats. While I was there I wrote a Travel Log detailing our experiences.
We were hired to teach English as a Second Language at ILBC (International Language and Business Center) which is a highly regarding educational institution within Burma. It caters largely to the military's children. We were there totally legally on work visas.
What follows is the fourth installment of a series of five Diaries on Burma. This one concerns our personal reflections on the educational system we encountered. I hope you find it interesting.
Education
We had contractually committed to teach summer school under the auspices of International Business and Language Centers (ILBC). The first months we taught in a brand new facility. This facility was slated to open as an International School affiliated with International School Services (ISS) the largest American network of international schools worldwide, when the regular school season started. It was a first-class environment to teach in and was well resourced. We had excellent textbooks to teach with, a spacious classroom to work in and a relatively well-stocked library. The school had a covered gym, a swimming pool and playgrounds for the students to romp around during recess.
Because of this positive experience, when summer school ended, we decided to enter into a new contract with International Language and Business Centers (ILBC) for the regular school year and transfer to a different building. Even though the name indicates something international it really isn't except for the few foreign teachers they hire to teach English. And even though the name doesn't indicate it, this is really the best K thru 12 domestic school in the country. The name obscurity is no accident. It is a way to exist yet not be officially in existence in the eyes of the government. Part of the game played by the government (military) to make sure their children get a better education than the masses! We were slated to teach both English and History.
A few days before school the entire building was one big construction site remodeling classrooms. Work crews were everywhere. We spent our time trying to prepare for classes while dodging construction workers. We kept asking for our textbooks so we could really prepare properly but kept being told they weren't ready yet. When we finally got our books, about 2 days before the students arrived, we were aghast. They were paper-thin black and white mimeographed texts that contained almost no useful information. We discovered that the History textbooks were solely about ancient Egypt. What we didn't discover until a little later was this Egyptian curriculum was a repeating one used over multiple grade levels. All other history was just not being taught. I postulated that the students probably knew more about Egypt than the Egyptians!
When classes started it became immediately apparent over-crowding was a serious problem. I literally couldn't physically reach each student in order to observe their work or assist them because they were packed into the classroom so tight. There just wasn't room to move around. I noticed a partition between the adjacent room and mine had a space between it and the outer wall which enabled students to pass notes to each other between the classes while classes were in session. Not the best teaching environment to say the least.
Furthermore, there was no gym or playground for the children to burn a little energy during a recess time. The largest area for mingling was the cafeteria. So the kids spent their entire school day either squeezed into over-crowded classrooms or in the cafeteria eating lunch or a snack at break time. The older students weren't even allowed to change classrooms - the teachers did that! This was not an environment conducive to effective learning and much of what we were trained to do with students within the classroom wasn't possible to do.
This was the state of education in the best K thru 12 school in Myanmar. Suffice it to say that after just three days my wife and I both independently came to the same conclusion. This was not for us. We decided to take a weekend to think things over, do some soul-searching and give it one more try the start of the next school week. By the end of school that first Monday back we decided we had to resign. Next day we tendered our letter of resignation agreeing to teach to the end of the month or until replacements could be found.
We had mixed feelings about our decision to resign and the reasons were a complex mixture of personal, professional, emotional, and political. Contractually we had fulfilled our obligation to teach in their summer school program. We had agreed only to try teaching during their regular school year at the new school. In the end we were comfortable with the decision we made to leave.
I'm sure the educational system in Burma is substantially the same today as it was when we were there. Our hearts break for the minds of the children forced to learn in such an environment.
Let us hope that with the recent release of Aung San Suu Kyi, after being under house arrest for the last 15 of 21 years, there is change coming for the Burmese people. They deserve it!
In my next and final Travel Log Diary on Burma I will discuss our personal experiences traveling in the beautiful country of Burma, the charm and hospitality of the Burmese people we met, and the impressions of the repressive government that controls their lives.
Stay tuned!