NAYPYIDAW — Burma has officially launched a national education plan, which sets strategic directions for the country’s educational reform over the next five years.
Burma’s State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi introduced the plan at a ceremony in the administrative capital Naypyidaw on Thursday.
The plan is the culmination of a nationwide comprehensive education sector review that was initiated in 2012.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi stressed the importance of passion for learning in educational reforms and called on teachers and those implementing educational policies to instill passion for learning in people of all ages.
According to a summary report of the education plan, the government’s policy will focus on the health of nursery and primary school students in all parts of the country including remote areas, and create an environment in which they can happily and actively learn through play.
The plan also provides informal education and lifelong learning for those beyond school age.
“The problem with adults is that they think they have learned enough. But education is a lifelong process and they should be learning as long as they live,” she said.
The ultimate goal of the national education strategic plan is to improve the learning process for students, and facilitate vocational education, research and innovation, said education minister Dr. Myo Thein Gyi.
“We are working to make sure all school-age children go to and complete school,” he said.
The plan is based on fundamental principles—namely that education in Burma is a right of every child, regardless of race, sex, socio-economic or citizenship status, ability, or location; and that those who were not given the chance to go to school or dropped out should not be left behind, affirmed Bertrand Bainvel, UNICEF Representative to Burma.
Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko
