Myanmar Youth and International Private Schools

Reported by Staff Correspondent Translated and Edited by MYA

It has been more than a decade the International Private Schools are being allowed to function in the country, and now, the parents and the guardians are eagerly expecting a supervisory body to assess and evaluate whether these schools are cost benefit or otherwise for the students in the backdrop of heavy school fees borne. A mother of a middle school student attending an International Private School in Mandalay said, “The International Private Schools have been established for more than a decade in the country and certain number of Myanmar students went abroad for further study in foreign institutions. However, there is no watchdog to oversee the quality of these schools in the country. These schools are moving ahead in their own direction in own principles. The school expenses are attached in their own way and the parents have to spend K. 2 to 3 million each year without the knowledge and information about the quality of education and whether it was worth spending. Most of the parents wanted to know in which direction the international schools moving ahead.” Dr. Bio from Learner’s Choice remarked, “While attending the International Private Schools, almost all the young students are taking tuition at home. It should not happen in such a way. As the parents have spent a large amount of schools fees, the learning system provided by the International Private School must have quality teaching methodology.” The school fees collected by the International Private Schools vary from US$ 100 to 600 for each month for nine months each year depending on students’ grades. At present, there are more than 100 International Private Schools across the country and most of the schools accept students with US$ for enrolment. In the face of low exchange rate of US$, some private schools changed the enrolment fees in Myanmar currency. The aim and objective of Myanmar students attending the International Private Schools is to continue further study in foreign institutions and some students intend to devote their lives in the future steering the family business in the country. When a Myanmar student is studying in the International Private School, he is deprived of the opportunity to switch back to Basic Education Schools due to various reasons. Moreover, when the student passed the Grade 10 Level at the private school, one has to sit at the internationally recognized IGCSE test to enable to enroll at the international colleges and universities. However, the Myanmar students were usually getting lesser grading every year at the IGCSE, failing to meet the norm required by the foreign colleges and universities. The Myanmar students who were deprived off to attend foreign universities as well as universities at home stands at nearly ten percent, it was learnt. Managing Director U Zaw Min Tun of Tip Top Educational Service in Mandalay said, “At a time when our nation is opening up the private sectors, the government as well as the non-government sectors should concentrate for a better private education system. At the moment, there is no supervisory body at the International Private Schools in the country. There is a need to assess and evaluate the matters such as the existing curriculum, the yearly examination system, whether the students actually learned or otherwise. Moreover, there is a need to check whether the fees are worth paying and the possibility to enroll direct to the foreign colleges and universities.” The International Private Schools will start to accept the enrolment of students in next June and it is likely that ten percent raise in the school fees for the next year is on the agenda by the Board Members, it was learnt. Most of Myanmar students normally go to Singapore for further studies and the private educational institutes there raise the school fees with the approval and decision of Singapore Parliament through appropriate planning and that raised educational costs comes up in nominal percentage. At present, the domestic private schools in the country teaching through government prescribes educational curriculum and the International Private Schools functioning through British and American style curriculum are rising in number. The cost at such private schools demands the parents at least K. 2 million for each student on average. In this scenario, most of the parents are expecting the quality educational services that are equal to what they have paid as schools fees. From Eleven Media Group