Transcript: Episode #95: Education, The Passport to the Future
Following is the full transcript for the interview with these guests, which appeared on March 18, 2022. This transcript was made possible by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and has not been checked by any human reader. Because of this, many of the words may not be accurate in this text. This is particularly true of speakers who have a stronger accent, as AI will make more mistakes interpreting and transcribing their words. For that reason, this transcript should not be cited in any article or document without checking the timestamp to confirm the exact words that the guest has really said.
00:19
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Host 00:52
Hi there and thanks for listening. If you're enjoying our podcast and have a recommendation about someone you think we should have on to share their voice and journey with the world. By all means, let us know. It could be an aid worker, monastic author, journalist, scholar resistance leader, really anyone with some Thai or another to the ongoing situation in Myanmar. To offer up a name go to our website insight myanmar.org And let us know. But for now, just sit back and take a listen to today's episode.
01:52
Now Kakashi da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da Kalia Yoshua. We got it oh, sorry, some of the image on pelajar and.
Host 02:20
I'm really pleased to bring you the following two interviews conducted by our guest hosts Satara. In the ensuing discussions, he examines the role of education in Burmese society, and how the failures of the school system have contributed to many of the ongoing problems we see today. Nelson Mandela famously said, Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. The inverse of this quote, however, is also true. One of the best ways to prevent change within a society is to limit access, censor what is taught and stifle creative thought. And the military leadership in Myanmar has been doing exactly this for generations. This was perhaps vividly depicted best by Pascall tooth way, the author of from the land of green ghosts. His unlikely journey led him from a rural Shan village, where classroom learning was all the prohibited to the Halls of Cambridge where he earned a BA in English literature. For those particularly interested in this topic, I'd also like to note our four previous episodes addressing education. Episode number eight features the renowned journalists way when he traces his early activism back to his anger at the universities being forced to shut down, sheltering he talks to us in episode number 40, about how her teachers attempted to instill a sense of nationalistic and religious superiority in her schooling. In episode number 54, the German monk be Kuhmo kita describes the holistic monastic school he set up in the archway during the democratic transition period, and the horror of seeing it burned to the ground shortly after the coup. And finally, an episode number 73 La la when and then Minang describe the augmented reality app they developed which would have revolutionized learning in Myanmar yet which all came to a crashing halt. But the the interviews that follow here today are no less compelling. We first hear from Terence to as he spent half his schooling in Myanmar and the other half in the US, he's able to provide a contrast between the two styles of learning. In addition, as Terence is from the Korean community, his perspective on the feminization policies of the government is especially valuable. He discusses how ethnic language culture and history has consistently been overlooked, minimized and even intentionally written out of textbooks. I should mention that Terence Htoo is currently a lobbyist at the US Advocacy Coalition from Myanmar, where he has spent the better part of the last year supporting the Burma bill. Next up, we hear from an an 18 year old who is currently attending international school in Yangon. Very few Burmese are able to attend these more privileged institutions, but she was fortunately able to do so with a scholarship. She gives some insight into the curriculum and culture at these schools and how they differ from the country's public schools. and shares what she has gained from this experience and how schools have responded first to the COVID pandemic, and then to the coop. As we delve deeper into the ongoing crisis in Myanmar, it's important to not only report on recent developments of the conflict intensifies, but also spend time examining how we ended up here. The educational system of the country is charged with instilling knowledge and values in the younger generation. So there's perhaps no better area to bring to lens than education. I'm quite appreciative of the skill and sensitivity which so tar brings to these interviews. So with that, let me step out of the way and turn the mic over to him and what follows.
Saw 06:18
In a way that was a good day. Hello, everyone, thank you for tuning into the Insight Myanmar podcast today, we are joined by Terence turns, thank you for being on the podcast.
Terence Htoo 06:58
Thank you for having me.
Saw 07:00
So before we dive into the the basic education system in Newmar, could you share a little bit about yourself as much as you're comfortable with?
Terence Htoo 07:09
Sure. So I was born in Burma, and I immigrated to the United States when I was a teenager. So I pretty much spent half my time in the Burmese education system, and then the other half in the US education system. So I sort of have a good idea of both education systems, I can compare and contrast them pretty well. And right now I am working full time as a researcher. And for my part time work I'm you know, being an advocate for for Burma, you know, ever since the coup, so I'm an organizer for the campaign for a new Myanmar. And I'm also a lobbyist at the US Advocacy Coalition for Myanmar. And I'm just trying to do what I can to help with the things that are going on in Burma so that one day Burma will achieve true democracy.
Saw 07:58
Thank you, thank you for everything that you're doing. And so today, the heart of the conversation, is how the basic education system especially the history taught in school has propagandize or brainwashed the students and the people of Myanmar. And so to begin with that, what are some skills that are a value in the basic education system?
Terence Htoo 08:20
So in the Burmese education system, rote memorization is value. We're expected to memorize really long passes passages when we're young, and we're memorize where can I start over?
Saw 08:36
Yeah, so just be quiet for like five seconds and then.
Terence Htoo 08:45
Yeah, so in the Burmese education system, and rote memorization is really, really value. And when I was young, we were expected to memorize really long passages. And we were also expected to memorize some of the math steps that we take. So you had to like take exact steps, and you have to memorize everything, right? So there's no room for critical thinking, there's no room for creativity is just about rote memorization. And then, in schools, we're also taught to be very submissive, we're supposed to, like take the teachers authority as always, right? And we're just supposed to follow them. And I want to, you know, say that being submissive is totally different from being respectful, right? You can sometimes disagree with your teacher and be respectful at the same time, but in the Burmese education system, though, you're only expected to be submissive. And then the other thing is, they value your test taking abilities. Everything is Test test test. You don't really get points for doing your homework, doing your classwork. It's really what you get on the test that really determines your grade or ability and everything else, and especially in Burma, you know, after your 10th grade, you have the matriculation exam that determines your future, basically, it's just one test, right? One test on the subjects that you're taking. And if you do really well, on those tests, your future is more bright, you know, you can do more things. But if you struggle, then you're gonna, you're really gonna have a hard time, you know, in life, because you won't get the necessary score in order to, you know, make it to certain professions that you wanted. So definitely, you know, one test determines your future. And that's a system that is very problematic.
Saw 10:41
Interesting, so it seems like majority of the students has have to listen to everything that teachers teach, and they just have to memorize everything that's in the book, and just write them down at the test so that they can advance into another grade or pass the high school so that they can go into the college that they like. And with that comes, you know, the alterations of the history. And how does education present the history to the students? And my question is how half the history books alter the history of Myanmar.
Terence Htoo 11:23
The history books have altered the history of Myanmar in a very, very impactful way. So I'm an ethnic minority. I'm a Korean ethnic from Burma. And so as an ethnic person, you know, I understand the struggles that our people have gone through in the past and our people are going through in the present. But in the textbooks, though, there, there is no mention of ethnic struggles, for example, they will glorify the Burmese kings of the past. And they never mentioned the ethnic cleansing that these kings have committed against ethnic minorities, like the month, for example. And they made it seem like the ethnic groups are always in harmony, that they were always coming together, working together, they were always united, and they were always subservient to the you know, Burmese, and, you know, everything was great. But in reality, though, that wasn't the case. For example, right? In when Burma gained independence from Great Britain in 1948, there were a lot of ethnic groups that were fighting for their own independence. They didn't want to be part of Burma, they wanted their own separate current state, they wanted their own separate, you know, other, you can just fill in the blank for other ethnic groups. They wanted their own thing, right. And then, when we were in school, we never really learned about those things. We just learned that, Oh, everybody was working together and fighting against the British, right. But in reality, a lot of the Korean people were siding with the British, and fighting the Burmese. So we never really learned that in school. And for example, you know, there was the 1949 Korean revolution that took place. And that was played a big role in Burma's history. But there was no mention of it. I didn't know about it until I was a little bit older, and I was able to do my own research and do my own studies. And, of course, you know, obviously, there was no mention of the 1962 coup, led by General a when the 1988 uprising, the 2007 Suffering revolution, on the genocide against the chin, Korean Rohingya and other groups, you know, etc. You know, the list goes on, pretty much the history books, never really mentioned them, because they want people to think that Burma is in this harmony in this little utopia, little bubble, where the history was really beautiful, and something to be proud of. So they in a way brainwash you to be patriotic and love the Burmese culture, you know, to the best of your ability.
Saw 13:48
Wow, seems like that's a lot of brainwashing that happens in education. And what allows the this kind of alterations of history to occur in the basic education system.
Terence Htoo 14:02
So pretty much you know, time right time is what allows it to happen. There was a lot of brainwashing going over time. Like I mentioned before, you know, the military, the first military coup took place in 1962. Right, that's almost 60 years ago, right? almost 60 years ago. So over that period of time, you know, people get brainwashed generation after generation. So, over time, people are just, you know, not they don't remember their history, they don't know the true history. When and when you don't know that history is really easy to trick you. It's really easy to brainwash you. And then the other thing was after the Burmese military took control of the country, they also they were in control of the television programs, the radio programs, right? They're all run by the military. And because of that, it was really easy to indoctrinate people through those things. The other thing was censorship. Even when, you know the military would allow western movies To be shown in Burma, they will censor certain parts so that the Burmese people wouldn't really know about certain things that they shouldn't know, according to the military. And in a way, Burma was just closed off from the outside world as well. And the other thing was, the military was really good at carrying out harsh punishments for those who were dissent who would disagree, right. So if they were to if people were to tell other people about the true events that happen, educate other people about the real history, those became people who disagree with the military, and now they're going to be punished. So when you get punished, generation after generation, the people who disagree with the military, they have become less public, they have become more quiet. And as a result, a lot of people just don't know about history anymore. In the in the education system, even the teachers when they are teaching history, they believe that what you're teaching is true. And they just don't know the difference between what is what was real and what wasn't real.
Saw 16:06
I see. So you mentioned that you, even you, as an ethnic minority, didn't know about these propagandizing and the brainwashing until, you know, you grow older and start doing research on these topics. So do the ethnic minorities in Myanmar know about their history?
Terence Htoo 16:28
So it depends on it is hard to answer that question with like, just a yes or no, I would say it really depends on your upbringing, it depends on where you're living. So I can't speak for every ethnic minority, right, but I can sort of speak for the current ethnic group, because I belong to that group. So even within the correct ethnic group, for example, I came from among the crime people who lived and who, you know, build communities, closer to the former capital city younger, and because of that, we didn't face as much oppression as our brothers and sisters, our current brothers and sisters, who are living and who were living in the eastern part of the country. And because of that we didn't really like because we didn't experience the oppression firsthand. Over time, you know, we forget our history. Over time, we don't really we didn't really know, like, what truly happened. And our parents, you know, didn't tell us not because they didn't know but because like, they fear that if we knew, and if we start saying things, we might be in trouble and things like that, right. So there's a lot of like, like, fear and all that going on. So the ethnic minorities group, the closer to the capital city, you know, we will be more, we will be more assimilated to the Burmese culture, and then we wouldn't really know our true history. But on the other hand, like the ethnic minorities living, you know, in, in the poorer regions or whatever, because they suffered the oppression firsthand, they don't even need to, like, in a way, no history, because the history that we fought is their present. So, you know, there's a disparity even within the ethnic groups. So some people know about it, they experienced it firsthand, some people are oblivious to it, and they just think that you know, everything is fine. So it's a sad reality. But with more education, with more conversation, you know, with your grandparents with your parents, with, you know, people who have experienced it firsthand, we can really start to better understand what happened to us in the past. And now we can move on, knowing you know, what went down so that we can improve the future.
Saw 18:44
All right, all right. And dust dust these kinds of brainwashing, especially the people are living closer to the capital cities. To this brainwashing affect their sense of democracy prior to the spring revolution.
Terence Htoo 19:02
Yeah, I would say so. Right. So democracy, right, democracy is ruled by the people, right? So for the people to rule the people need to, you know, come together, and the people need to be informed, right informed in order to hold that power. So I want to focus on before 2015, because 2015 is when the NLD party took over, and then they started making reforms in the education system. But before that, though, there were you know, the education system was 100% controlled by the military. And because of that, you know, in the education that you get from school education that you get from watching TV, whatever. There are a lot of brainwashing going on. So a lot of people actually saw the ethnic arm organizations like the Korean National Liberation Army, or the kitchen, Independence army. Read those organizations as terrorists. They believe that those organizations are the ones that are Les Paul made their cities, you know, burying landmines, so that people will be blown up and things like that. And, and what that caused is like this divide divisiveness between ethnic groups. You know, people just don't trust each other. And then when, you know, people don't trust each other, they don't work together anymore. And when people don't work together anymore, that sense of democracy, that sense of people coming together, being informed and being educated to, you know, hold power in the country like that is no longer a possibility. So this, this method, you know, that the military use, you know, I would just call like the divide and conquer strategy where they were like, divide that the groups along those lines, and because the ethnic groups divided because they're not united, it is easier to conquer them. Right. And then the other thing is definitely before 2015. People were afraid to speak up. I mentioned that earlier, too. So, you know, they were just worried that what they say, you know, might, the military or the spies of the military might hear what they're saying, and then they will be in trouble for that. So then, you know, they will be very quiet about it. And they will be like, just like, say things in a hushed tone. Right. But of course, a lot has changed since 2015. Since the NLD, took over and did a lot of reform in the education system.
Saw 21:31
Right, right. And since you mentioned the NLD, party's one, I'm sorry. off again. I see. So since you mentioned that 2015 NLD party? No, there you go. I keep saying the same thing. Sorry. Yes, okay. I see. And since you mentioned the 2015 general election, where onsen cities and Aldi party, won maturely. Has the education system been improved? Since 2015?
Terence Htoo 22:23
Yeah, I would say that, you know, it has improved, or at least, you know, the efforts to improve, were underway. For example, there were there was an increase in funding, right, with education you really need, you really need to put in a lot of money in the right places. I know, I remember when I was in school, my teachers knew they were really kind hearted people. And then they did the best that they could to educate us with the limited resources that they have, right. But when I asked, well, I didn't ask them about their salaries, but you know, that we kind of they know about it. So when I, you know, talk to my parents about my teacher salaries, their salaries were very low, very low. And so when salaries are low, obviously, you know, fewer people are going to be interested in that position. And when fewer people are going to be interested in that position, there's like a smaller pool for the talent, right? There are smaller talent pool. And when there's a smaller talent pool, you just like, have less talented people show up to the interview for the job, wherever or they, you know, who were like, hired for the job? Right? So definitely, you know, under NLG, there was increasing funding, so the teacher salary, they started to increase, there was also more teacher training going on, in the right way. And there was also more focused on creativity and critical thinking. They after 2015, around 2016, people started to talk more about it, when they were writing essays, when they are, you know, like answering questions or whatever, right? They start to be more creative, they start to think critically. And then, and since 2015, there were also more private schools that open up before we we had private schools too, but after 2015, especially, there were more private schools that open up because the western countries or you know, even like prosperous countries in Asia, they started investing in Burma because Burma started to become more democratic. Right. So with with more investment, or more private school, so those schools, they're not indoctrinated with the military agenda there. They have their own pedagogy, they have their own ways of teaching kids and you know, inspiring them to be like, you know, the best learner that they can be right. But, of course, like there's a limitation to those kinds of school because it's only accessible for the rich. A lot of poor people in Burma, they don't have access to good education. Some people don't even can't even go to school because they have to work to provide for their parents who are sick, whatever. And then the other thing that the NLD implemented, or not just the NLD, but you know, the education department in the ministry of education in general, like they added sex education to, and, you know, sex is a very taboo topic among the Burmese population, but sex education, right, it shouldn't be a taboo topic issue, it is an important thing for at least, you know, kids to know about kids to know about so that they can, they can be aware of the dangers that are involved with sex, and then you know, whatever that, you know, they have to be aware of they know, if they learn it from school, in an inappropriate setting, they can be more educated about it compared to like, if they're learning from their peers or whatever, where, you know, they might learn about, like, unsafe practices or whatever. Right. So, definitely, you know, there were a lot of improvements since the NLD. Take took over. But sadly, you know, I think that that progress is going backwards now after the coup.
Saw 26:02
Right, right. And even when the anody was in power, it was, you know, really hard to make improvements, for many reasons. So. Okay, well, I don't think I have to ask this question anymore, right.
Terence Htoo 26:21
You can you can ask, that's fine. Oh, really? Yeah. I mean, why was it hard to make improvements? Right, that one? Right, right. Yeah.
Saw 26:28
Okay. Right, right. Yeah, it seems like the NLD was on the track of improving the education and even improve in some categories, like sex education. But it seems like within five years, the process was a little slower than you know, we might expect it. So why do you think it is hard for an OT to make improvements to the education system?
Terence Htoo 27:03
You know, all habits rarely die, right? When you're trying to change a culture that has existed for so many years, it's really, really difficult to change it, it's challenging to change something that has been going on for over 50 years. And you can't just change that overnight, or even five years, right? Throughout the past 50 years or so the military regime has inhibited critical thinking, for those who went to school. And also a lot of children didn't have access to schooling in the first place because of how poor the country became. Right. So they're behind other kids in terms of that. So the NLD had to lay, you know, grapple with all those things. And, and it's really difficult, it becomes challenging to reform, something like that in a short period of time, of course, you know, they are moving in the right direction, but in order to the best way to make changes, is taking the time to change it, you can't change something abruptly, right, you have to change it gradually. And you have to let it evolve slowly over time. That's the best way to change something. So the NLD just, you know, need more time, and they just need but unfortunately, that time, you know, we don't have that anymore, because we have lost democracy in Burma.
Saw 28:29
Right, right. And you've mentioned you've been in both Myanmar and United States education system. So could you give us a comparison between them?
Terence Htoo 28:40
Yeah, of course, um, you know, for example, in the United States, we care a lot about creativity. But in Burma, it's more about memorization, right? For example, when we're solving math problems, there isn't one right way to solve a math problem. There are certain rules that you have to follow with math, of course, but there are many ways to arrive to the solution of a particular question, right? But in Burma, though, you're expected to follow that one method that your teacher taught you in one method only, even if you get the answer, right. Even if all your steps look, logically, you know, five mathematically acceptable, if you don't follow the way that the teacher taught you, you're going to lose points on that. In the US, you know, it's not like that if you as long as you know, you're following logical math steps. You know, you can and if you arrive the answer and is correct, and the steps are fine. You know, you're going to be okay with that. Same thing. When you when it comes to writing essays. In Burma, the teacher write the essay for you and the teacher got the essay from the government, written, like, like curriculum, right? So like, she copies the essay provided to her by the government, from the military. And then she writes it down on the board and all the kids copy it down. And then you just have to memorize that and then you don't really, you know, think about the What to answer you just memorize that by heart. And then on the day of the test, you just rewrite it again, from, you know, from your, from your memory. But you know, here in the United States, creativity is value. So when you're doing essays, you have to think about it, and you have to come up with ways to make your arguments and things like that, right. And also, the differences like critical thinking versus indoctrination in the United States, you know, in the education system, we value critical thinking, but in Burma is about indoctrination. And the example of that, you can see that in the historical passages, I remember when we had to learn about the words that were happening between Burma and Thailand, back in the 18th century. And, and, you know, the, the questions were, basically, the way the questions were asked, they were, like, opinion based questions, right? They were like, How successful was this king, for example, either opinion based, but we were given with the right answer, for that opinion based question. And we were supposed to memorize that. And then we're supposed to, we're expected to write that down, word for word on our test. Right? So there's no like, there's like, no room for like, you know, thinking about the issue or analyzing and thinking about critically, you know, we don't have a room to like, criticize, what things the king, for example, did wrong. During that time. Everything that came there was great, according to the essay response, right. But in the US, for example, you know, when you think about those same historical passages, the essays regarding the historical times, we have to, you know, we can analyze whether a certain President did the right thing or the wrong thing, as long as you can back up our opinion with facts and evidence, you know, it's really good. And then, the other thing is innovation versus conformity, right, even something like our class. When I was in elementary school, we were taught to draw like a dog in a certain way. And we're only allowed to draw it that way, or a fish in a certain way and only that way. But, of course, in the United States, there are guidelines. But, you know, you can let your innovative ideas flourish and your creativity is forage. Right. So yeah, that's pretty much it.
Saw 32:27
I see. And another thing that I want to touch on is the after school tuitions in Myanmar, I believe this is a big part of the education culture in Myanmar, where students, you know, go to after school tuition. So could you explain us a little bit about their culture?
Terence Htoo 32:50
Yeah, so after school, tuition is basically an extra tutoring, right? extra tutoring after school. And usually, the same teacher who was your teacher at school will be your tutoring teacher, too. And so you basically relearn everything that you have learned in class. In that, you know, tutoring session. And so in my experience, right, I was out when I was in elementary school, our class was about 80 people. And we only have one teacher. So imagine, like, even in the United States, if there's like one teacher, like 30 students, that's already a lot to manage, right? So imagine one teacher, with 80 students with 83rd graders, imagine how difficult that is for the teacher, like, I didn't think about it back then. But like, you know, it's allowed a lot of people, right. So, because of that, you know, in cars, you don't really, you know, really learn a lot of, you know, the teacher cannot give you the one on one focus that you need, right, so that you need that. after school tutoring. At home, the teacher will come to your house, and then you will be with like five or six other of your friends. And then she will basically we teach you the same things, the same math problems, the same, you know, English passages, whatever, right? And then, you know, you, you because, you know, after repetition, because of the exposure again, you will do better than you normally would. But the problem with that kind of system is that, you know, I came from a family that my parents weren't rich, but you know, they weren't poor as well. So they were able to afford that after school tutoring. But a lot of the kids, they can't afford that. So imagine, like, not getting enough. You know, not getting the one on one attention that they need in class. And they don't even have that extra help. So they're going to struggle, but for for me or for my peers who were in that after school tutoring because we had that extra help. We had that relationship with our teacher like that closer relationship with our teacher. We tend to do better in school because of that. So there's, you can always see it's an unfair system. And the other reason why we kind of need the after school tutoring is also because the teacher, her salary is very low, or his salary is very low. So they kind of need to do additional, they need to do additional tutoring additional work in order to get supplement income, only then they will be able to, you know, live, you know, have a earn a waivable a livable wage.
Saw 35:33
I see. So it seems like the more privileged and the richer you are in Myanmar, the better education you receive. And it seems really unfair to me. And as someone who has, you know, study on topic, like like you, if you were given the chance, where would you start to improve the education system in Myanmar, in order to achieve a system where it is fair for everyone. And it is not about memorization, but about critical thinking and creativity?
Terence Htoo 36:10
You know, it needs to be a multi faceted approach, because you can't just, you know, try to solve one part, right, you have to think about it in a big approach, or is this question sort of challenging to, you know, answer, and then just, like, give you a few points, but like, you know, a few things that a few things that we'll need to look at is basically, we have to change people's mindset, that people have been indoctrinated for so long that they don't really have critical thinking. If you ask them to copy a passage, they will memorize it, and they will be really great at it. But if you ask them to think, and then process through thought, and then write an argument piece, a lot of people, a lot of adults, and even some students in Burma right now, they're going to struggle with that. So we need to change that mindset. And, and that's going to take time, though, so we just have to be patient with it. And then we just have to start fostering creativity and critical thinking, and instill that ability to, you know, make logical arguments and backup your arguments with evidence and all that in the minds of our students. And then the other important thing is to invest in the teachers, the teachers, you know, the role of the teacher is very important. They are the ones who are going to inspire the next generation, right. So because of that, they need to be trained better, they need to be trained appropriately. They need to have the skill sets that they need in order to teach other people critical thinking and creativity. And the other thing is, they need to be paid more, they need to be paid what they're worth, and I know that, you know, teachers being underpaid, it's not a problem, not just exclusive to Burma, it's also, you know, applicable in the United States as well, but it's much worse in Burma for sure. Because teachers are very poor in in Burma. And so they need to get pay more so that they get what they deserve. And when you know, a salary is competitive, you know, more people are going to come for it. And when when, like I said, you know, earlier, you know, it's all about the talent pool, right? When more people come after a job, the talent pool is wider, bigger. So then, you know, there's a higher chance of getting the people who are more qualified and more talented to work for that position. And lastly, the important thing is to reach the unreachable. Education needs to be accessible to everyone in Burma. A lot of kids today in Burma, they are not going to school, they're working. I've seen on the streets, I've seen a lot of 789 10 year old kids working there selling things so that they can provide for their parents, right? That's not acceptable. I understand why they have to work, right, they have to feed themselves, they have to feed their parents. If they don't work, then their you know, family has to struggle, right. So I don't blame them for having to work, but I blame the system for putting them there in the first place. So we need to make sure that you know, the poorest people in Burma, the poor people in Burma they have what they need so that they can focus on education, right. So when you think about like the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs, right? You need to first have that foundation of like safety that love right? So only then, you know, you can go to the next step. And then you can finally you know, reach like self actualization, right? So, same thing with education. In order to focus on education, those kids they need to live in like safe places. They need to be able to eat decent meals every single day. They can't, you know, they shouldn't have to go hungry when they sleep, right, things like that. So we need to have a system that is more equitable for The people of Myanmar so that they will be able to focus more on education and things like that, instead of worrying for what they're going to eat the next day.
Saw 40:12
Right, right. And those are really good points for improving the education system as well as the entire, you know, system in Myanmar. And as we know, in the past five months, people have been strongly opposing the military government, and the spring revolution and civil disobedience movements or proof or how much the military government is disliked by the people. So could this be the beginning of a fight against a century old brainwashing education system?
Terence Htoo 40:46
So I wouldn't say this is the beginning of a fight against a century old brainwashing education system, I would say that the fight has been going on for many years as well. You know, for example, in 1988, in 2007, in other parts of history, right, the fight has always been there. But I would say that this is definitely a turning point, a turning point, because in 2008, right, the military wrote the 2008 constitution of Burma. And they basically paved the way for a quasi democracy, where Burma will be in the state of democracy, but they will still have control over a lot of things. Back then, right, back then, it wasn't true reform. Right. We, it seemed like there was true reform after the 2007 Several revolution, but it wasn't really true reform, it was just a reform in disguise, that the military use so that, you know, they can benefit from it. The 2008 constitution, for example, right, it allows the military to retain 25% of the seats in both chambers of the legislative body in Burma. And, and because they have 25% of the of the seats, the Constitution can never be changed, because it needs more than 75% of the members to vote against the constitution to basically absorb it, right. So then, you know, the military are always going to hold that power. And then the other thing is that 2008 Constitution also gave them control over the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defense. And, you know, ministries like that, right, where a lot of a lot of the things that affect the country on a day to day basis was still controlled by the military. So does the spring revolution, though, you know, it's now a turning point for sure. Because we're not going back to that kind of format, where we seem to have democracy, but the military is still controlling a lot of the stuff. Now we have an opening to uproot the military completely. So we really have to take full advantage of this. And when we succeed, right, when we enter, I'm not saying if we save, I know, we will see, but it's just a matter of time, but it's going to be a long fight. So we just have to keep fighting. So when we succeed, we can change the education system.
Saw 43:19
Right, right. And the combinations of cope fit and the cool, you know, doesn't really help those students in Myanmar. Because, since COVID, I believe the schools have been closed. And now that the country is, you know, under the military hunters, a lot of students are participating in the civil disobedience movements. So they are not going back to school. And so do you know, any efforts that have been put in for those students who are participating in the CDM?
Terence Htoo 43:59
So yeah, um, regarding that, I know that the Ministry of women, youth and children affairs, they are trying to provide online education for some students as well, again, like the the, you know, their ability is limited. What they can do is, what they can do is limited because of the limited resources that they have. But you know, they're definitely trying to do that. And then I know for sure that in some places, they, you know, the communities, you know, they're coming together, the churches, the monasteries coming together so that they can provide education for, for their kids, when, you know, the kids are not being able to go to school because of COVID. And because, you know, they're participating in the civil disobedience movement, right. And one thing I want to say about education is that you don't need to go to school to be educated, right, especially a school that is just going to brainwash you, if you go to that school, you're just going you're going there to be uneducated, you're not going there to be educated. So So, you know, education, doesn't need to be formal education can be gained, in a way, where like, you know, there's critical thinking going on, there is room for innovative thinking. And then education can take place when, you know, you're open minded about things, and you are having conversations with people. So it doesn't need to be in a formal school setting. It can take place anywhere else in other places, and it can take place through your experience as well. So I just want to touch on that as well.
Saw 45:32
And see, thank you for touching on the importance of, you know, not being able to go to school, but still being educated in the field that you want to be educated in, that it's really important for the people in Myanmar, especially, to understand. So lastly, is there anything you would like to share about your experience? or educate the listeners of the podcast? Or let them know how, how, how they can help in the file? Let me do that again. Right, right, and thank you so much for touching on that topic of, you know, not being able to go to school doesn't mean that you're not going to be educated anymore. Because it is important for the people in Myanmar especially, you know, to understand that you don't have to go to school, to be educated in the field that you want to be in. So thank you for that. And lastly, is there anything you would like to share about your experience, or educate the listeners of the podcast? Or let them let them know of how they can help in the fight against the outdated education system? Or just a fight against the hunters in general?
Terence Htoo 46:53
Yeah, you know, I like this quote from Nelson Mandela. He said that education is the most powerful weapon, which you can use to change the world. So education is definitely the answer, to fight against the military regime that is holding power right now. And then in, in order for this kind of education to happen, we need to be able to look back, and also look ahead. So looking back, right looking back, we need to be able to look back at our history, which has a lot of conflicts, we need to acknowledge the mistakes that we've done, we need to admit that we mistreated ethnic minorities and other marginalized groups, we need to heal together as the people of Burma. And, and most importantly, we need to learn not to repeat the mistakes that we have done in the past, and only then we'll come together. And we'll be able to work together in order to topple this military regime. And, and then after we look back, and after we look back, and we learn from looking back, we need to look ahead, we need to look ahead by focusing on critical thinking and innovation, we need to undo the damage that has been done by the military in the past 50 years or so, we need to you know, they have done a lot of damage. So we need to really undo that damage and move forward. We need education we need, we really need educated people in various sectors to rebuild the country as well, right. So we need to really invest in the future and be able to have educated people who are going to lead the country in different ways. So we also need to be hopeful for the future as well. And lastly, I just want to say that, you know, this is a fight that we will win. But it is also a fight that is very long, it is going to be a marathon. So we need to be patient, and we need to keep on fighting no matter how hard it is. And the important thing is to continue to be kind to one another, to continue to be supportive of one another, as we keep on fighting, and only when you were united only when we are working together will be stronger than the military reaching. Right. The one thing that military regime had against us all those years ago, is the division that they have caused among us. But with more education, with more open mindedness, with more conversation flowing from one ethnic person to the next. And when we start to listen to each other more, and when we become more kind to each other, we can become a collective that is really strong. And with our strength together, we can topple the military regime forever.
Saw 49:37
All right, thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate it.
Terence Htoo 49:41
Yeah, thank you for having me.
49:54
What am I gonna do we are done and the reason is that we got busier and busier. Oh, yada, yada yada yada yada yada, yada yada and
50:12
spirit house six. The knots had moved into the house on Inya Lake zoomed through halls with pocket knives, tamarind seeds, green bananas, family offerings of jade bracelets, Schrute cigars, deer tails. The medium dance wildly in the living room, drunk on palm wine, spinning, spinning. Orchestra of circle drums and copper bells played on the staircase, not play. eight children on the floor boards, leaping over uncles and cousins, shaking, shaking. Mother lit candles on the wall shrine, she spoke to the blue winged insects, they whispered back. Auntie walked in a dream state hot room. Cousin slowly open a large trunk of teak and silver strips. The knots flew inside, one after the other after the other. This pollen is from storage unit for the spirit house on Omni Don, by machines.
51:59
What am I gonna do? We are done. And the reason is that we got busier and busier. Oh, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada.
Saw 52:14
For a second guess we are joined by en. And thank you for joining the Insight Myanmar podcast.
Ann 52:20
Thank you for having me here. It's a pleasure.
Saw 52:23
All right. So could you tell us a little bit about yourself as much as you're comfortable with?
Ann 52:29
Well, I add, and I'm an 18 year old Burmese international student. I have been to an international school my entire life. And you can ask me anything you want.
Saw 52:43
Right. Thank you so much for that. So in the first part of our podcast, we talked about the basic education system in Myanmar. But I believe the international schools in Myanmar have a very different education system and curriculum. And since you were an international student in Myanmar, can you share about the way your school's education system is structured?
Ann 53:07
Yeah, so Well, my school is an American curriculum based, private international school that offers knowledgeable subjects going from Arts to sciences, history to sport, you know, and since it's an American curriculum based score, the system's designed in a way that prepares you for further education in the US, generally, I would say that, and familiarize you with the American culture as well. So for example, we have grades K through 12, a student government, we celebrate events that are not traditionally celebrated in Burma. And we also have similar beginning and ending school years, the dates. So to elaborate on the last two examples that I gave, a day that we celebrate would be October 31. Halloween, and in Burma, we don't celebrate Holi at all, it's not a part of our tradition, or culture. Nope. So in our schools, we celebrate that. And we also have Student Government's making, you know, haunted houses and such with the school faculty acting as a backbone and so on. And as I mentioned, the school years are also they're structured in a way that is similar to American schools. I would say, We begin in this we begin the school year in late August and end in early June, which you know, is a complete difference from government schools which start in June. Yeah, June to March. Yeah. And regarding the education system, though, for international schools, the subjects, the core subjects that we have through, you know, grades K through eight are math, me think math, science, English, of course, history, art, physical education, ICT and a foreign language class. In high school, though, you get the freedom to create your own, quote unquote, course, as long as you reach the required credit score to graduate. And we also have the typical standardized textbooks. And classroom sizes are around like, 20, maximum 20, I think. And in my class, we even in my class, we only had eight students. So there was a lot of one to one attention from the teachers to students, and vice versa. You know, we also have advanced placement, courses and exams. Yeah. And, oh, there are also several kind of international schools. We got American, like I said, British, so many more that I can really list on top of my head right now. And most of them also located in Yangon, you know, the largest city as well, in my personal experiences of having gone to both government, school and international school, I would say there are major, like, I emphasize on major differences. And in my opinion, I mean, they're all understandable, not like not everyone can afford to go to a private International School. And like I was one of those people. But I'll dive into that later. But our to mention that a key difference between these two systems are that in international schools, we are required to speak in English, whether it is during class, or just you know, having casual conversations with your friends. Yeah.
Saw 57:32
Oh, interesting. Okay, so from you know, what you said, it seems like the international schools in Myanmar has this atmosphere that's filled with, you know, both culture from Myanmar, and the International, the country that they're based on, that is pretty interesting to learn. And so from your experience, what kind of skills are taught and learned in school?
Ann 58:03
Hmm. So, in my opinion, I think actually, I believe that international schools, students actually are encouraged to think more critically and creatively rather than memorizing, like, insurmountable work, you know, and we technically know, we actually favor hands on experiments like science experiments, and events, just we really promote learning about life, you know, and preparing yourself for the future that your, your life that you will have in the future and the experiences that will come with it, just preparing you for, like I said, What's supposed to come. So, you know, and we also really celebrate art, music and just having being independent as a student as a person and also just being able to express yourself as who you are then being shaped you know,
Saw 59:20
right, right. So, that is, you know, very different from what the basic education system in Myanmar offer, because they emphasize more on the memorization is over all that you have mentioned. So, what does it mean to be an international student in Myanmar, because it is, you know, fastly different from being a student in a patient education system. And, you know, what are the benefits of being an international student school student in Myanmar?
Ann 59:57
That's actually a really good question. Hold on. I think for this question, I'll just list a few things down and just elaborate on them. Yeah. I think, like I said, there's a lot of creative freedom for us. By this, I mean that the teachers are, they're really supportive of our choices when it comes to the subjects that we take, or creative content that we produce. In my school, we have this extra curricular class call drama class, but I think they're changing the class now to like film and something, something along the lines of film, because basically what we did on there was, we created a TV show called The den on behalf of the school. And we had, we literally had all the creative control, like a student's had the creative control, while also staying in touch with the school's faculty for the uploading of the shows, or, you know, such as, and I would say, it was a really fun experience and made me learn so much about not only, you know, video editing or acting, but also the importance of communication with people, and the connections that we have with them. And I really think that truly represents international schools. Really well, like preparing you for the real world. Like I said, I think international schools really help you think out of the box. And really find who you are as a person, rather than, like I said, being a cookie cutter straight A student. I mean, I'm not saying they're not competitive or anything, because they are truly competitive. But I'm just saying they allow you to think more independently and become a more independent person. Yeah. But even if you don't get straight A student, there's literally no need to worry, because there's, like I said, there's a high teacher to student attention. And the teachers will genuinely help you earn better grades if you're truly struggling with a subject. And I, well, I sound like a marketing manager right now. But yeah, I truly mean it. And oh, and by independency, I think having a student government plays a big role in supporting that statement as well. Because like I said, you get control of planning different events and many more. I was in Yeah, I was in a StuCo. I would just call it you know, student council Pro, we call it StuCo. For short. I was in studio StuCo, for a couple of school years. And we penned and created so many events like talent shows, haunted houses, dance nights, fundraisers. Yeah, and just a lot more that we did. Another Another thing would be that being an international student also means going to school trips. Now the fun part. There's also there. Yeah, they are typically in generally, there are two school trips that are most notable in my school. So the week without walls trip and the learning across borders trip, the week without walls trip is just a high school retreat, where we go to different locations around Burma each for each year, and learn about different cultures and practices. So for me, for example, back in 2019, before all this COVID started, we went to Mandalay and we literally like stayed on an island isolated, like an isolated island for two days. Two days, I think. Yeah. I mean, of course, there was already a pre existing village and the people there but I think I think it was the first time for our students to shower from a water tank with a little cup, you know, outdoors with the lone Gian. Yeah. First time for them. But you know, like, like I said, life experiences. Yeah. For Yeah. For learning across borders, though. The other school trip is it's more of a, you know, global competition environmental science competition. That It takes place in different countries each year, though. And in 2018, yeah. 2018 I participated in the competition which took place in Vietnam. Yeah, Vietnam. And my partner and I conducted a project called Plants versus fluted. Don't don't cringe, because I don't know what we were thinking when we came up with that name, too. But I think it's pretty fitting for, you know, our project, because we, we conducted an experiment on how a Lovera can significantly reduce pollution in your house and such. I mean, I mean, yeah, I'm speaking from my personal experiences. But I think international schools in general, almost every international school, have a week without walls trip and some form of global competition going on every year. And as an international student, you could also get experiences from a very diverse community. For example, in my class alone, there were four, only four of us were were barista students, and the other four were international students. So Oh, and lastly, the most important thing, being an international student means you get a discount at goccia. Yeah.
Saw 1:06:31
All right. Thank you very much. And it sounds like being international students, just give you you know, like, a lot of experience that you cannot experience in the basic education High School. And also, when you were talking about, you know, the school, you mentioned about, you know, going into school preparing you for what comes next, you know, if you want to study in the United States, and such. So, are there any benefits for international students? Who would like to study abroad?
Ann 1:07:19
Um, yeah, I would say that it is, I mean, naturally, as an American curriculum, school, it prepares you mostly for an American college. But you are free to go anywhere you like, basically to go for college, any any country that you like, it only matters that you talk to your counselor about it in your applications. You're free to do whatever you want, actually. Yeah.
Saw 1:07:50
Awesome. Awesome. I see. So you mentioned that majority of the international schools are based on Yangon. Right? So could you tell me how accessible are the international schools in Myanmar, for the people who are not in Yangon or are also in the NGO but are not privileged enough, you know, to be able to attend the international schools?
Ann 1:08:23
Well, I mean, they're, I think they're around like 25 international schools in Yangon. So, in a sense, I would say that it is pretty assessable, like picking a school wise, but in the same way, it's not assessable because the schools are expensive, they're expensive. They're like paying your college tuition. That's how much money you have to pay. Because the fees Oh, my gosh, like, my school is considered one of the cheapest schools, international schools. And the fees are already like 10,000 USD a year. Yeah. There are even more, I mean, there are even more prestigious international schools that you can go, which they can reach up to like 20,000 or a year or even more. So most students that are there, they're either really rich, or they're there with a scholarship.
Saw 1:09:35
So it seems like the international schools give out some sort of scholarships that you know, could it could be assessable for the people who are not in Yangon, but are passionate to be international students. So, thank you for the information. So moving on to the next question. I see. So the international schools provide some sorts of scholarships for the people who will like to attend, but are not privileged or do not have enough, you know, money to put into the education. So could you elaborate a little bit more on how to apply for scholarships?
Ann 1:10:38
Yeah, gotcha. So, regarding scholarships, I mean, I was a scholarship student as well. Because, you know, I am not, I cannot afford a school like that, you know, so, what, for my process, though, it's different for most students, but for my process, I was offered a scholarship from a the, I was offered a scholarship, you know, for from my school. And what I did was I went there, I had an interview. For me, I had an interview, they we just discussed on a lot of things, they looked over my grades. And I got into the school in the middle of the year. But for other students, so regarding the scholarships, I think it's a different process for everyone. But for my school, what I had to do was, I was actually offered a scholarship, because I can't afford an international school to go to an international school that that was just expensive, you know, but I was offered a scholarship, I went to the school, I looked around, they looked over my grades, I had an interview, and I basically got into the school, but for, for they do a background check on you to you know, whether you're you deserve the scholarship or not. And, but for other stories that I've heard off, they had to take a placement test. If they weren't offered, you know, the scholarship, and they had to take a placement test. And then that's how they got the scholarship. And different people get different amounts of scholarship as well. It's just like a college. Yeah,
Saw 1:12:35
I see. So since 2019, I believe the International School experience might be a little bit different from, you know, the past years because COVID pandemic happen, and then right after the coup happened. So how has the COVID in the coop impacted the students?
Ann 1:13:01
That's an interesting question. Oh, well, the COVID and the coup, the combo that we never needed, but now we do. But, you know, 2020 doesn't seem so bad anymore, after experiencing after living in 2021. But yeah, ever since the coup start, the COVID started ever since. Yeah, ever since COVID. Started. Like most of the students around the world, we just immediately went to online classes, we had to cancel all of our school events. And all year long. It was just, you know, longing to meet your friends and a lot of online homework submissions. But I mean, thankfully, and rightfully, my school was really flexible with, you know, our submission dates. And personally, I thought, I really thought I can't believe I really thought my graduation year would be better. And I really had high hopes for it. But then boom, the military staged a coup of me mean, it was unpleasant, I would say, you know, having to leave class abruptly because the soldiers were in your neighborhood throwing tear gas, you know, grenades, or just like shooting bullets at your house, you know, and just waking up and seeing dead bodies on your social media in the morning before going to class you know, that was that was pretty atrocious. But oh, wait around. I think that was before we had Internet access anyways, like before the military cut off our internet access, so we couldn't even go to classes to our classes. And it was especially worse because like, personally for me, for my own safety, it wasn't safe around my neighborhoods. for my own safety, I had to go to a more rural area to you know, for my own safety, like I said, and the Internet was so bad, I couldn't go to class, I couldn't take my exams. It was a struggle. But it was a stressful time for everyone for every international student for not only international student, but every student in general, everyone in general, you know, and I would say that we are very privileged and blessed. Because despite the coup going on, and COVID, we were able to, you know, resume with our classes, when, in, on the other hand, government school students, they haven't been able to go to school Since COVID started, because they have just a larger number of students in their classes, and it wouldn't be that possible to have an online meeting, you know, for them. So I would say that, you, you know, you got to look at the bright side, even though it's, it's not ideal for what a student should be going through, you know, and I think the cool really deteriorated our mental health as well. But personally, for my school, they were even more, they became even more flexible with our submission, state submission dates. And it's just not, like I said, not ideal for what a class should be like. And the teachers understood that as well. Personally, I mean, not personally, for our class I met. And even when we went out to protest, the teachers, they did not stop us, you know, because they understood us. But some of our students were, you know, they were really angered that the teachers were preventing them from going to protests or attending different demonstrations. And I think that's for the younger grades, though. But for high schoolers, like me, we, but the teachers, we they're not there, they're obligated to stay neutral, despite their political stances, you know, they're the as the school they're obligated to stay neutral, because for a school environment, it's just, it's their job to give knowledge and provide education for anyone, you know, they're not supposed to judge they're not supposed to give input on what political party, you're supposed to which political stance you should be on, you know, so it was kind of frustrating for some students, because the teachers were, you know, encouraging them to stay and learn instead of going out. But even if we didn't go out, they were still supportive of us. And I think, I mean, not that I think it really was a hard time for us. Just having to be concerned for our lives, even when we were just simply studying, you know, and it's some of some of my classmates. And I mean, including me, we, we would go to protests, and, you know, there's just like a crackdown, and, you know, blood everywhere. It wasn't, like I said, it's not ideal for what a high schooler or just a student in general should be going through, you know, we should be enjoying our high school life, our students life, our teenage years, but because of this cool, and COVID We're not having that. So I think it really took a mental toll on us, but we're doing our best. Yeah.
Saw 1:19:32
And I'm sorry that you had to go through this experience amid the COPE, especially, you know, your graduation year. This is just a terrible experience. And I believe no one should, you know, go through that experience. And in the past couple of months, there have been a lot of conversations about how, you know, ethnic minorities in, in men Omar has been experiencing the discriminations by the majority seen Denmark. So have you or has anyone, especially someone who's an ethnic minority ever face any form of discriminations when you were in school?
Ann 1:20:21
So as I'm trying to think of a moment right now, but I really can't honestly, but as a member of an ethnic minority, I would say, No, I think, as an international school, my school was very accepting. And they're, they're obligated to be accepting of all kinds of people, you know. And, instead of discrimination, I think we celebrate the different ethnicities and culture instead. For example, like every year, we would have been the jam festival. And that's during this the jam festival, we would just the school would just organize performance program, and the students would perform different ethnic dances or songs, or just the Jen songs, you know. And I think it was in 2019. Yeah. So back in 2019, before the whole pandemic hit, we actually had to perform a song about celebrating different ethnicities, like I said, in Burma, while little kids in their traditional clothes, of course of different ethnicities danced, and it was, it was so wholesome. I wish everyone could see it, everyone should see it. It was so wholesome, like the little kids were so cute. But yeah, like I said, I think, despite us, the US as a country being notorious for, I mean, not us as a country, but the Burmese military, as much as they are notorious for oppressing the ethnic minorities, us as an international school community, we are actually very accepting and we celebrate the differences in our cultures. Yeah.
Saw 1:22:28
I see, I see. That's really good to hear that everyone is treated the same. And everyone's culture has value in the, in the school. So with that, what are some flows or issue that you want to improve in your school?
Ann 1:22:47
Well, that's, that's an interesting question. But, um, I would say, as an international school, that is very expensive. It's what comes along with it, is hiring competent teachers. So my school is fairly new, but it has the school has so many competent teachers that are very well skilled in their own specific subjects. But as a growing school, and like most international schools, there will be teachers that are teachers, or just members of the faculty who are not competent enough. And it's always a learning experience for the school as well. So I don't want to name names, but there was one teacher, not a teacher, one person in our school who would who what most students would believe wasn't competent enough. To be a part of the school and to be, yeah, to be a part of the school. So what happened was, like I said, it was a learning experience for the school, the school fired them. And yeah, but that I mean, they, I think, personally, for my school, they're really quick to fix some issues that are not right. With, but it doesn't go the same for all the other schools. You know, there are flaws for like, there are flaws everywhere. But another thing my school is not heavily. I don't think they're affiliated with the military, but some of the most prestigious schools. They're very affiliated. They're heavily affiliated with the military. And as a result, they also received social punishment, but because they were so heavily affiliated with the military Some of them had to, like speak aside. And some of them chose the military side. And they got a lot of backlash for it. But what comes along with being affiliated with the military is favoritism towards the military kids, or just favoritism towards the richer kids. And I think that is really, it's really corrupting. But you can't really do anything about it, you know, you could call them out and stuff. But I don't think you can really do anything about favoritism. Because I mean, technically saying that's how the school survives, you know, they need to have the money, the money from these people, these rich people, for them to stay working, you know, so I think favoritism is a big issue. And for that, I would like to point out in my school and just any other school and yeah, favoritism, yeah.
Saw 1:26:25
Interesting. So since you mentioned that some schools, some international schools, had to pick a site, sort of when the coup happened, you know, because they're heavily affiliated with the military. What happened to the students? Who are who does not receive favor? Who are, you know, not the military kids or are not rich enough. But you're going to school on scholarships and stuff. So what happened to the, to those students?
Ann 1:27:01
Well, this is kind of funny, but I would I truly believe that they are so much more under they're so underappreciated. And their efforts are not easily seen. They're just not I don't think they're that recognized. I mean, they I feel like people who are in that position, they deserve a lot more than what they give up. Yeah,
Saw 1:27:41
I see. So for those schools, is there any civil disobedience from the students? Just like how majority of the students from basic education high schools participate in CDM when the school reopened? Because majority of the base education high schools are affiliated with the military?
Ann 1:28:12
Yeah, there were. There are so many cases of social punishment, even the school that the senior Gen. Male, lay his grandchildren, the schools that they went to, they were heavily punished. They're even the school. I don't want to name name, but name names. But there's this big and very prestigious international school in Burma that made a post on Facebook, of how they were thankful that, you know, the military was giving them vaccines and stuff. And people boycotted them so much. And just even their own students, they start quitting schools, and in support of the civil disobedience movement, and just to in the form of protest, you know, there are a lot of social punishment and just quitting schools going on right now. Yeah.
Saw 1:29:21
I see. And one thing I would like to talk about in the, in the education system, and I guess, in the culture in Myanmar, is that in the basic education system, there's a culture where students go to after school trations you know, because they feel like or sometimes what the teachers teach in school is not enough for students and you know, they have to take the after school tuitions in order To be on top of their classes. So does does that kind of culture exists in the international school education system?
Ann 1:30:12
Yes, I would say but it's mostly for standards exams like sa Ts. I would there are students who take after school tuitions for not standardized exams related stuff. But it's mostly I think it's pretty different from what Burmese government schools offer because the, the after school tuitions that international schools mostly go to our for help with their homework, or just to receive assistance while they, you know, do their work. And like I said, it's mostly for LSAT related purposes. Yeah. And or just like AP exam related purposes? Yeah. But there, I am not, I can't really talk much about on this subject, because I never went to a after school tuition because they're super expensive as well, more than what I can afford. So. But they're really helpful. And a lot of students go there, actually. Yeah,
Saw 1:31:34
I see. But would you say those softer school tuitions are needed in order to be able to, you know, to stay on top of your class in international schools?
Ann 1:31:48
Personally, I don't think so. Because you can ask your teacher who's teaching the subject about it, you know, because I don't think the experience and the learning styles are the same between two teachers. So I think it's best to just ask your subjects subject teacher about it, instead of going to and, you know, another after school tuition. But I think if you're really struggling, and just need extra practice, or just need help from just to learn a different method of calculating something or learning something, then I think it's helpful. But it's really, it really depends on whether it really depends on the person and how much help they need. Yeah.
Saw 1:32:44
Great. All right. And lastly, is there anything that you would like to share or you like to educate the listener of this podcast?
Ann 1:32:54
Well, for regarding international schools, I, I think it's just a privilege to be able to go to an international school during these times or just any time in general, because there's a vast range of differences when it comes to international schools versus government schools. So if a listener is paying to go to a International School, I mean, I wouldn't recommend now, maybe try like online classes, but I think it's just better to, I think the education quality is also a lot better compared to what government schools can offer. And you just, you just experienced a lot of different aspects in life and what you can do and what your potential is, but doesn't mean that, you know, government schools are bad as well, they have their own pros and cons. But generally, I think international schools would be a better option for someone who can afford it. Or if you can, if you want to apply for a scholarship or anything, just go ahead for it, you know, just ask the school for it. And just, I think it's, there's only for you to go up, if there's only like positive things and just pros that can come to you that you're, you know, achieve when going to an international school from government school. But, I mean, not everyone like I said, not everyone can afford to go to an international school. So, but if you really want to, like I said, just ask for a scholarship from this Go research more on it with it's just like finding a college you know, just research more on your international schools because I think they can genuinely give you like better education and knowledge on certain things
Host 1:35:30
thank you for taking the time to listen to this show, I realized that this is an enormously difficult time for many people who love me and more these days, myself included, and at times, we might despair that there's anything at all we can do to stop the horrors unfolding there. However, just the mere fact of staying informed is helping to bear continue to witness and keep a focus on this issue when much of the international media has moved on. And the only way that we can do our part in continuing to provide this content is through the support of generous donors, listeners like yourselves. If you found this episode of value and would like to see more shows like it, please consider making a donation to support our efforts, both monthly pledges or one time donations are equally appreciated. Thank you deeply in advance. If you would like to join in our mission to support those in Myanmar who are being impacted by the military coup, we welcome your contribution, any form currency or transfer method. Your donation will go to support a wide range of humanitarian missions, aiding those local communities who need it most. Donations are directed to such causes as the Civil Disobedience movements EDM families of deceased victims, internally displaced person IDP camps, food for impoverished communities, military defection campaigns, undercover journalists, monasteries and nunneries education initiatives, the purchasing of protective equipment and medical supplies COVID relief and much more. We also make sure that our donation Fund supports a diverse range of religious and ethnic groups across the country. We invite you to visit our website to learn more about past projects as well as upcoming needs. You can give a general donation or earmark your contribution for a specific activity or project you would like to support. Perhaps even something you heard about in this very episode. All of this humanitarian aid work is carried out by your nonprofit mission that or Burma. Any donation you give on our insight Myanmar website is directed towards this fund. Alternatively, you can also visit the better Burma website better burma.org That's BETTRBUR ma.org and donate directly there. In either case, your donation goes to the same cause, and both websites accept credit cards. You can also give via PayPal by going to paypal.me/better Burma Additionally, we take donations through Patreon Venmo GoFundMe and Cash App simply search better Burma and each platform and you'll find our account you can also visit either the Insight Myanmar better Burma websites for specific links to those respective accounts or email us at info at better burma.org If you'd like to give it another way, please contact us thank you so much for your kind consideration and support. The various No? No. They have No no, do we really