The Independent Bangladesh -UN officials concerned over Myanmar's education policy

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The Independent Bangladesh
UN officials concerned over Myanmar's education policy

BANGKOK, Jan 21: Top Asia Pacific officials from UNICEF and UNESCO have
voiced concern over the closure of universities and the poor state of basic
education in military run Myanmar, reports AP.Institutes of higher education
were in a "sad state" and there had been a decline in standards of schooling
in Myanmar, which in the 1950s and 1960s was a star of the region in its
efforts to promote literacy.Myanmar needs to give a high priority to
education at all levels from primary schools to opening up the
universities," Kul Gautam, UNICEF regional director for East Asia and the
Pacific, told a press conference late Thursday.He made the comments after a
four day gathering in Bangkok of education ministers and officials, from 41
Asian-Pacific Countries, to assess their progress since the 1990 UN World
Conference on Education for All. This week the dissident National Council of
the of Burma urged participants to press the Myanmar regime to reopen all
universities closed after antigovernment student protest, in Dec. 1991.
Gautam said the closure violated the Convening of the Rights of the Child,
which Myanmar, also known as Burma, has signed. Victor Ordonez, Asia Pacific
director of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, said
universities were being gradually reopened but that the UN shared concern
over the closures "In Myanmar it's not fair or true to say that all
universities and colleges are closed. The teacher training institutes are
open .... some agricultural and engineering schools are open,'' he said.
"Although it's fair to say that the Myanmar government are controlling it in
a way that is unacceptable to the world community." He expressed hope that
education ministers of Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, due to
hold an annual meeting next month in Bali, Indonesia, would broach the
issue. "Ministers listen to fellow ministers a lot more readily than
international agencies, whom they sometimes perceive as interfering in their
internal affairs,'' Ordonez said. Universities in Myanmar have been open a
total of only 30 months since 1988, when the current generation of generals
case to power after crushing an uprising against a quarter century of
military rule.Last month the regime allowed third and fourth year
undergraduate students of engineering in the post at the forefront of
student political dissent - back to School, and has said it will fully
reopen all higher education institutes by May.The NCUB said students
returning to reopened classes have been made to sign papers promising not to
engage in any political activity and warned any political demonstration
would see colleges closed again.Gautam said only about 40 per cent of
children in Myanmar were currently enrolled in primary school. He expressed
dismay at the sharp rise in military spending in the post decade to the
detriment of the social sector.The Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute says military spending in Myanmar grew from dlrs 2.5 billion in
1989 to 4.2 billion in 1991.