Educating the Elite

With conditions in the public school system deteriorating, Burma’s generals opt to send their children elsewhere. In military-ruled Burma, school bells ring only if politics permit. After the May 30 crackdown on Burma’s opposition and the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, schools across Burma closed their doors to stop dissent brewing in the schoolyard and spilling out into the streets. This is all too familiar to Hlaing Win, who attends a state-run high school in Rangoon. He knows that if he wants an uninterrupted education, he needs to go to a private school. "If I was a student at a private school it wouldn’t matter what the authorities were doing. They couldn’t close the school," said Hlaing Win, 16. Because of their place outside the state system, private schools are buffered from politically related closures by military authorities. Hlaing Win dreams of going to a private school like the International Language and Business Center (ILBC) in Rangoon. "I’m really interested in that school because I know I would get a normal education that is guaranteed in a foreign country," Hlaing Win said. Many of the top private schools in Rangoon offer internationally recognized school certificates and English language instruction. But their high fees mean that only a tiny portion of Burma’s seven million school-aged students can afford to go. Admission to Rangoon’s top schools does not depend upon a tough entrance exam or good grades. What students need is money, and lots of it. At the ILBC, fees start at around 1.1 million kyat (US $1,160) per year for kindergarten students and rise as students move to higher grades. The ILBC is actually one of Rangoon’s cheaper private schools—fees at the Yangon International Educare Center (YIEC) are higher. The only parents who can afford to send their children to the YIEC are diplomats, wealthy businessmen and high-ranking officials. Military Intelligence chief Gen Khin Nyunt, who is also chairman of the National Education Committee, opted for something better than what was offered in Burma’s government schools and chose to send his grandson to the YIEC. One staff member at the YIEC, who asked not to be named, said other senior military officials had enrolled their children at the YIEC. Moreover, many of the generals’ close associates and cronies send their children to private schools. The children of Teza, one of Burma’s wealthiest businessmen and a known arms broker, are students at the YIEC. According to a teacher at the school, children from rich and powerful ethnic Wa and Kachin families also attend the school. But while many junta leaders have chosen to send their children to private schools, the government still hasn’t officially recognized their existence, which is why private schools never use the words "school" or "education" in their titles. Qualifications from these private schools are also not accepted for entrance at government universities in Burma, so the only option these students have for further study is to go overseas. "If they complete our course, they will go on to study in foreign countries," said a Burmese teacher in a private school. At the end of their schooling, most private school students take the General Certificate of Education, the standard high school qualification offered in the UK. Yet, despite their high fees and rich clientele, private schools are not without their weaknesses. Almost all of Burma’s private schools use English as the primary language of instruction and students are prevented from speaking Burmese or their ethnic language on campus. "Our students are only allowed to speak English in the classroom. They need to be fluent in English," says the teacher. There are no Burmese language or culture subjects on the curriculum at the YIEC or the ILBC. Students are taught to read and write only basic Burmese. Thus, they lack the skills to write essays in the language, the teacher admitted. "Our curriculum is set in accordance with international standards, so we don’t let them study Burmese history or literature like students in the state-run schools," explained the teacher. "We focus on the subjects and study areas they will need when they go abroad in the future." A retired lecturer from Rangoon University believes this approach is far from ideal. "The students need to know their history and language. It doesn’t matter which country they go onto study in." The lecturer questioned the aptitude of staff in private schools, particularly foreign teachers who are employed without teaching qualifications. Burmese teachers at the ILBC and YIEC said only a few of the teachers from English-speaking countries held degrees. School administrators believe that their foreign teachers make the schools look more prestigious in the eyes of fee-paying parents.