[PR]
Myanmar, which was transferred to civil administration in 2011. It is not only democratization and economic growth that is attracting attention. The number of schools and teachers has increased, and many children who could not attend school in the military era can now study. The educational environment has gradually improved. I heard that there is a village that is working on improving education in a slightly different way with the support of NGOs, and visited Shan State in the east.
Shan State borders China and Laos, and in Japan it is about the size of Hokkaido and Tohoku. With its Inle Lake known as a tourist destination, Taunggyi is the fifth largest city in Myanmar.
Timbeau village, about 40 minutes away from Taunggyi, built a new elementary school building in 2016. Until then, there were not enough 3 classrooms compared to the number of about 250 children, and different grades learned together. In the brand new school building, children were reading textbooks with a cheerful voice. The school principal, Mr. AESOH (43), rejoiced, saying, “The school building is available and the children are growing and studying.”
"Handmade" school building
A Myanmar NGO called “Saetanar” cooperated in the construction of the school building. The construction cost was about 47 million kyat (about 3.3 million yen), and most was covered by the support of Nippon Foundation. A father who has two sons in elementary school, farmer Man Eun (37) said, “When we were children, we didn't have enough materials and classrooms. I said.
This village is now aiming for “development that does not rely on support”. They are going to cover the costs of preparing teaching materials and building a teacher dormitory. Most of the residents of Timbo Village are farmers and cannot afford to live. How do you generate funds?
The people in the village used it ...