• Burmese
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
26 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Burma

Mon State Likely to Pass Mother-Tongue Teaching Bill

Lawi Weng by Lawi Weng
March 24, 2014
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0 0
A A
Mon State Likely to Pass Mother-Tongue Teaching Bill

Students at a school run by the New Mon State Party. (Photo: maukkha.org)

4.7k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RANGOON — Mon State’s Parliament is likely to pass a bill next month that would put teaching of the Mon language into government schools for the first time in more than 50 years, regional lawmakers said.

Local education authorities in Mon State hosted a meeting with different political parties at the Moulmein assembly on Saturday and it was widely agreed that Mon should be taught in government schools in the next academic year, which begins in July.

Nai San Tin, a member of the Mon State Parliament from the All Mon Regions Democracy Party, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that a bill proposing the teaching of the state’s mother tongue would go before the Parliament when a new session begins on April 8.

RelatedPosts

‘Reforms Are Not Optional’: Prominent Activist Urges NUG to Act Before It’s Too Late

‘Reforms Are Not Optional’: Prominent Activist Urges NUG to Act Before It’s Too Late

July 9, 2025
52
Myanmar Junta’s Top Russian Arms Supplier Tosses in Quake ‘Donation’

Myanmar Junta’s Top Russian Arms Supplier Tosses in Quake ‘Donation’

July 9, 2025
154
Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

July 9, 2025
263

“We have sought advice from different leaders and have agreed to have the Mon language taught at the government schools,” he said. “This is a pre-discussion before Parliament restarts. We have drafted this bill already, and I will propose it at Parliament.”

“Even the Parliament chairman supports this issue and the draft bill will likely be approved,” he added.

Like in all of Burma’s ethnic regions, government schools in Mon State teach only Burmese, and many Mon children cannot read and write in their native language. Fearing that their language, and with it a large part of their culture, will die out, Mon leaders have for decades demanded Mon teaching in government schools.

Under the proposed bill, Mon would be taught for one hour each day from primary school to Grade 4—from about 5 to 10 years old. The state education department would be responsible for hiring Mon-speaking teachers.

It would also allow ethnic Pa-O and Karen people living in Mon State to study their own languages at school.

Aung Naing Oo, another state MP said, “This is going to be an achievement from our effort.

“All the Mon should be happy for this, even though we will have many challenges.”

Under the democratically elected U Nu government of the 1950s, all schools in Burma’s ethnic areas were permitted to teach native languages, but the military regimes that ruled the country from 1962 enforced monolingual education in all state schools.

As a result, in Mon State, as in other parts of the country, only schools run by ethnic rebel administrations have taught the local language.

The New Mon State Party, an armed group that has a ceasefire agreement with the Burma government but still controls parts of the state, has since 1972 run its own schools under its Mon National Education Department. It runs 156 schools, employing 800 teachers and serving 17,000 students.

Amid political reforms initiated after President Thein Sein came to power in 2011, ethnic lawmakers have made requests for mother-tongue teaching to be reinstated. Since 2012, teaching ethnic languages has been permitted, but only outside of school hours, and without any state funding.

Mi Myint Than, an ethnic Mon lawmaker in the Lower House in Naypyidaw, said that the Mon State chief minister, Ohn Myint, told her that he agreed with the proposal.

“We met him [Ohn Myint] in September and he told us that he agreed to have Mon language at the government schools. He even told us that every chief minister of Mon State should be an ethnic Mon,” said Mi Myint Than.

By allowing Mon teaching at schools, Mi Myint Than said, the language will survive in the young generation.

“This will be a bridge in the future for our all ethnic Mon children to study Mon,” she said. “They will be able to read and write very well in the future if they can study their mother tongue.”

Your Thoughts …
Lawi Weng

Lawi Weng

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang
Burma

Exodus: Tens of Thousands Flee as Myanmar Junta Troops Face Last Stand in Kokang

by Hein Htoo Zan
November 28, 2023
98.5k

Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army troops are opening roads and pathways through forests for people to flee Kokang’s capital as...

Read moreDetails
Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public
Burma

Burning Alive in Myanmar: Two Resistance Fighters Executed in Public

by The Irrawaddy
February 7, 2024
89.8k

People’s Defense Force says junta troops told every household in the village to send one member to witness the double...

Read moreDetails
Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State
War Against the Junta

Another Entire Junta Battalion Raises the White Flag in Myanmar’s Northern Shan State

by The Irrawaddy
November 29, 2023
87.1k

Brotherhood Alliance member says it now has complete control of Kokang’s northernmost section after the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 125...

Read moreDetails
Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks
Burma

Depleted Myanmar Military Urges Deserters to Return to Barracks

by The Irrawaddy
December 4, 2023
59k

The junta said deserters would not be punished for minor crimes, highlighting the military’s shortage of troops as resistance offensives...

Read moreDetails
As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue
Burma

As Myanmar’s Military Stumbles, a Top General’s Dissapearance Fuels Intrigue

by The Irrawaddy
April 19, 2024
47k

The junta’s No. 2 has not been seen in public since April 3, sparking rumors that he was either gravely...

Read moreDetails
Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow
Burma

Enter the Dragon, Exit the Junta: Myanmar’s Brotherhood Alliance makes Chinese New Year Vow

by The Irrawaddy
February 12, 2024
44.7k

Ethnic armed grouping says it will continue Operation 1027 offensive until goal of ousting the junta is achieved. 

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Burma to Seek Development Assistance for Airport Project

Burma to Seek Development Assistance for Airport Project

Army Lost 2 Helicopters

Army Lost 2 Helicopters, Suffered Heavy Personnel Losses in Past Kachin Offensive: Report

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

37 Years and Counting: Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Taken So Long?

37 Years and Counting: Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Taken So Long?

6 days ago
1.3k
Myanmar Junta Blacklists 200 Firms for Dodging Hard Currency Grab

Myanmar Junta Blacklists 200 Firms for Dodging Hard Currency Grab

1 week ago
1.3k

Most Read

  • Chin Resistance Tensions Boil Over as CNA Seizes Rival’s Myanmar HQ

    Chin Resistance Tensions Boil Over as CNA Seizes Rival’s Myanmar HQ

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Starves Last Rakhine Strongholds as AA Closes In

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Trains Staff on Electronic Voting Machines Across the Country

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Trump’s Tariffs to Hit Myanmar’s Garment Manufacturers Hard

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.