Mizzima: Voices from Burma's techno

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                      Universities minus Education
             Voices from Burma's technological universities

By Sein Win, Yangon: July 11, 2001
Mizzima News Group (www.mizzima.com)

After it came into power, the ruling military government transformed the
Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT), a seat of anti-government
demonstrations during the 1988 people's uprising, into Yangon
Technological University (YIT) and established three new technological
universities in the country.

The Hlaingtharyar Technological University (HTU) was established for the
students residing in and around Yangon, Pyay Technological University
(PTU) was established for the students in Lower Burma and Mandalay
Technological University (MTU) was established for the students in Upper
Burma.

The main reason for the regime to develop these new universities was to
break the gathering of the students at one place, particularly for the
engineering students who took part actively in the anti-government
demonstrations. After the students' demonstrations in December 1996, the
government emphasized its task of sending the students away to different
locations by opening new universities away from the Capital. In reality,
the students are the ones who face the difficulties due to the
shortsighted policies and planning of the authorities concerned.

A student from the HTU complained that it takes at least one and
half-hour for him to reach the campus from his house in downtown Yangon.
"That is by school bus. If I take line bus, I have to change three times
to reach the University", added the student. The canteen is far from the
university campus and the university buildings are built at a field
where there are no trees.

As the price of basic commodities goes up, the cost of studying arises
dramatically. A student has to at least spend about thirty thousand kyat
per month, which is a big amount for an ordinary family in Yangon. And
it is a dream for students to get "job" after graduation. But, there is
no alternative for the students rather than to continue their studies.

The government however claims that they have invested a huge amount of
money in education by having new universities and colleges in the
country. SPDC's Secretary (1) Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, who is also the
chairman of Myanmar Education Committee, in his address at a closing
ceremony of teachers' refresher course recently, said the country has
now total 125 universities comparing with 32 in 1988.
For the students, it makes not much difference having 125 universities
or 32 universities. Not only the students, but also it is hard for the
teachers. A tutor who has served fifteen years in teaching told this
correspondent that the teachers have to alternatively teach at these
three technological universities and what she gets is about ten thousand
kyat per month as salary. (A television set costs around one lakh kyat
in Yangon) Some university teachers give outside tuition classes to get
additional income despite the fact that giving tuition is illegal. Many
teachers continue their work in teaching at these universities so that
they can go abroad for further studies.

"We actually want to go abroad to learn more. We want to be qualified
teachers with proper status?one cannot live with this salary. If we go
aboard, we can save money from our scholarship money", said the tutor.
But with the introduction of doctoral degrees in the country, their aim
to go "abroad" is nullified again.

Students from the Pyay Technological University have problems as well.
The university is located eight miles far from Pyay Township and four
miles far from Paungtalei Township. The weather there is dry-hot.

"When I joined this university in 1998-99, there was no hostel and there
was no private hostel nearby. Some students stayed at neighboring small
villages but most students stayed at Pyay and Paungtalei townships. And
the students had to come to university by highway buses sitting on the
roof-top", said a student.

Pyay Technological University was built on a paddy field. There is no
drinking water system. Although the authorities nowadays provide school
buses for the students living in Pyay Township and provide drinking
water bottles, these bottles are usually empty.

There are also problems for those students who are staying at nearby
hostels. One finds poisonous snakes everywhere. A student from Pinnyar
Paremi hostel, which is located near the university, said: "Our hostel
is built on the place which was a cemetery without proper cleaning.
There are many dangerous snakes. Even cobras."

Hostels have rooms 8' X 10' rectangular for two persons and they look
like huts. The walls are made of bamboo and a snake can come into the
room easily. The students said that they have to always look around
inside the room. They said they often hear the "dying" sound of frogs,
which are being eaten by snakes. The fees of hostel range from one
thousand kyat to one thousand eight hundred kyat per month per person.
Students depend on small restaurants and vendors for their meals.

There is a joke among the students that being in Pyay Technological
University, they are "Pyipyay" which means "exile" in English. They are
sent to Pyay as a punishment because they participated in the
anti-government demonstrations.

A student cannot stay inside the room when it is literally "hot" in
Pyay. They go either for big trees or ground floors of the university
buildings for shelter.

A final year girl student told this correspondent that it costs around
one hundred and fifty thousand kyat for her studies in the last academic
year. This year, she thinks it will be much more, about two hundred and
fifty thousand kyat. "I can order money via bank because one of the
private banks 'Asia Wealth Bank' has services every Fridays for the PTU
students".

But, to ask money from parents and to make telephone call to outside
world is not easy either. There is only one direct-dialing telephone for
the students in the whole university. There is always a long Queue with
the students waiting to ask money from their parents in far places.

Till 1988, the Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT) had a weekly
cartoon exhibition on every Wednesdays where the students expressed
their difficulties and sufferings. But, this kind of expression is not
allowed any more.

In 1999, students from PTU commemorated the anniversary of the death of
RIT student Ko Phone Maw who was killed by the security forces in March
1988 (he was the first student to be killed in the 1988 uprising) in the
university campus. Immediately after the program, twenty-two students
were arrested by the military intelligence (MI) and sentenced to
long-term imprisonments. No more commemoration for their Elder Brother!

Different experiences for the engineering students at Mandalay
Technological University (MTU). A fifth year student from MTU, which is
located outside Mandalay, said that he joined the university in 1994 and
although he gets hostel facility, there is no pure drinking water. The
hostel's "drinking water" is not good even for taking bath.

"The students get diseases because water contains high ratio of calcium.
Some students at last gave bribe money to concerned authorities to be
transferred to YTU in Yangon. Until now, there is no change in my
university. No one cares about us."

The Burmese military government has been claiming that it is working for
a modern and developed Burma. It claims that it provides computers to
universities. When asked about computer facilities in the university, an
engineering girl student studying civil subject complained: "We have
only one-time practical lesson with computer. As most students do not
have computer experience, it seems like we learned how to open and close
the computer during this one-hour practice. After the practice, we even
cannot touch the computer."

With the universities and colleges having had closed for many years,
lack of practical experiences and study facilities, tough environment
and above all, the lack of government's support, most students do not
have confidence in themselves that they will be the qualified engineers
and technicians after they completed their studies in these
universities. And they feel that their future is dim. But they don't
have a choice under the military regime.



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<center><b><font color="#000099"><font size=+2>Universities minus Education</font></font></b>
<br><b><font color="#000099"><font size=+2>Voices from Burma's technological
universities</font></font></b></center>

<p><i><font color="#CC0000"><font size=+1>By Sein Win, Yangon: July 11,
2001</font></font></i>
<br><i><font color="#CC0000"><font size=+1>Mizzima News Group <a href="http://www.mizzima.com";>(www.mizzima.com)</a></font></font></i>
<p><font size=+1>After it came into power, the ruling military government
transformed the Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT), a seat of anti-government
demonstrations during the 1988 people's uprising, into Yangon Technological
University (YIT) and established three new technological universities in
the country.</font>
<p><font size=+1>The Hlaingtharyar Technological University (HTU) was established
for the students residing in and around Yangon, Pyay Technological University
(PTU) was established for the students in Lower Burma and Mandalay Technological
University (MTU) was established for the students in Upper Burma.</font>
<p><font size=+1>The main reason for the regime to develop these new universities
was to break the gathering of the students at one place, particularly for
the engineering students who took part actively in the anti-government
demonstrations. After the students' demonstrations in December 1996, the
government emphasized its task of sending the students away to different
locations by opening new universities away from the Capital. In reality,
the students are the ones who face the difficulties due to the shortsighted
policies and planning of the authorities concerned.</font>
<p><font size=+1>A student from the HTU complained that it takes at least
one and half-hour for him to reach the campus from his house in downtown
Yangon. "That is by school bus. If I take line bus, I have to change three
times to reach the University", added the student. The canteen is far from
the university campus and the university buildings are built at a field
where there are no trees.</font>
<p><font size=+1>As the price of basic commodities goes up, the cost of
studying arises dramatically. A student has to at least spend about thirty
thousand kyat per month, which is a big amount for an ordinary family in
Yangon. And it is a dream for students to get "job" after graduation. But,
there is no alternative for the students rather than to continue their
studies.</font>
<p><font size=+1>The government however claims that they have invested
a huge amount of money in education by having new universities and colleges
in the country. SPDC's Secretary (1) Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, who is also the
chairman of Myanmar Education Committee, in his address at a closing ceremony
of teachers' refresher course recently, said the country has now total
125 universities comparing with 32 in 1988.</font>
<br><font size=+1>For the students, it makes not much difference having
125 universities or 32 universities. Not only the students, but also it
is hard for the teachers. A tutor who has served fifteen years in teaching
told this correspondent that the teachers have to alternatively teach at
these three technological universities and what she gets is about ten thousand
kyat per month as salary. (A television set costs around one lakh kyat
in Yangon) Some university teachers give outside tuition classes to get
additional income despite the fact that giving tuition is illegal. Many
teachers continue their work in teaching at these universities so that
they can go abroad for further studies.</font>
<p><font size=+1>"We actually want to go abroad to learn more. We want
to be qualified teachers with proper status?one cannot live with this salary.
If we go aboard, we can save money from our scholarship money", said the
tutor. But with the introduction of doctoral degrees in the country, their
aim to go "abroad" is nullified again.</font>
<p><font size=+1>Students from the Pyay Technological University have problems
as well. The university is located eight miles far from Pyay Township and
four miles far from Paungtalei Township. The weather there is dry-hot.</font>
<p><font size=+1>"When I joined this university in 1998-99, there was no
hostel and there was no private hostel nearby. Some students stayed at
neighboring small villages but most students stayed at Pyay and Paungtalei
townships. And the students had to come to university by highway buses
sitting on the roof-top", said a student.</font>
<p><font size=+1>Pyay Technological University was built on a paddy field.
There is no drinking water system. Although the authorities nowadays provide
school buses for the students living in Pyay Township and provide drinking
water bottles, these bottles are usually empty.</font>
<p><font size=+1>There are also problems for those students who are staying
at nearby hostels. One finds poisonous snakes everywhere. A student from
Pinnyar Paremi hostel, which is located near the university, said: "Our
hostel is built on the place which was a cemetery without proper cleaning.
There are many dangerous snakes. Even cobras."</font>
<p><font size=+1>Hostels have rooms 8' X 10' rectangular for two persons
and they look like huts. The walls are made of bamboo and a snake can come
into the room easily. The students said that they have to always look around
inside the room. They said they often hear the "dying" sound of frogs,
which are being eaten by snakes. The fees of hostel range from one thousand
kyat to one thousand eight hundred kyat per month per person. Students
depend on small restaurants and vendors for their meals.</font>
<p><font size=+1>There is a joke among the students that being in Pyay
Technological University, they are "Pyipyay" which means "exile" in English.
They are sent to Pyay as a punishment because they participated in the
anti-government demonstrations.</font>
<p><font size=+1>A student cannot stay inside the room when it is literally
"hot" in Pyay. They go either for big trees or ground floors of the university
buildings for shelter.</font>
<p><font size=+1>A final year girl student told this correspondent that
it costs around one hundred and fifty thousand kyat for her studies in
the last academic year. This year, she thinks it will be much more, about
two hundred and fifty thousand kyat. "I can order money via bank because
one of the private banks 'Asia Wealth Bank' has services every Fridays
for the PTU students".</font>
<p><font size=+1>But, to ask money from parents and to make telephone call
to outside world is not easy either. There is only one direct-dialing telephone
for the students in the whole university. There is always a long Queue
with the students waiting to ask money from their parents in far places.</font>
<p><font size=+1>Till 1988, the Rangoon Institute of Technology (RIT) had
a weekly cartoon exhibition on every Wednesdays where the students expressed
their difficulties and sufferings. But, this kind of expression is not
allowed any more.</font>
<p><font size=+1>In 1999, students from PTU commemorated the anniversary
of the death of RIT student Ko Phone Maw who was killed by the security
forces in March 1988 (he was the first student to be killed in the 1988
uprising) in the university campus. Immediately after the program, twenty-two
students were arrested by the military intelligence (MI) and sentenced
to long-term imprisonments. No more commemoration for their Elder Brother!</font>
<p><font size=+1>Different experiences for the engineering students at
Mandalay Technological University (MTU). A fifth year student from MTU,
which is located outside Mandalay, said that he joined the university in
1994 and although he gets hostel facility, there is no pure drinking water.
The hostel's "drinking water" is not good even for taking bath.</font>
<p><font size=+1>"The students get diseases because water contains high
ratio of calcium. Some students at last gave bribe money to concerned authorities
to be transferred to YTU in Yangon. Until now, there is no change in my
university. No one cares about us."</font>
<p><font size=+1>The Burmese military government has been claiming that
it is working for a modern and developed Burma. It claims that it provides
computers to universities. When asked about computer facilities in the
university, an engineering girl student studying civil subject complained:
"We have only one-time practical lesson with computer. As most students
do not have computer experience, it seems like we learned how to open and
close the computer during this one-hour practice. After the practice, we
even cannot touch the computer."</font>
<p><font size=+1>With the universities and colleges having had closed for
many years, lack of practical experiences and study facilities, tough environment
and above all, the lack of government's support, most students do not have
confidence in themselves that they will be the qualified engineers and
technicians after they completed their studies in these universities. And
they feel that their future is dim. But they don't have a choice under
the military regime.</font>
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