Approaches and Concerns in Myanmar

Overview & Synopsis

The information age has changed the economic and social environment in such ways that countries are moving from being "traditional pull" to "technology push" societies. This makes technical and vocational education and training (TVET) policy especially significant as it seeks to promote specialized practical and professional skills for employability, as well as generic and adaptive life-skills for better citizenship. For developing countries, such as Myanmar, the question is how best to respond to the challenges in terms of re-engineering their education systems, since they have limited educational resources to achieve equal opportunities for all. They must also respond adequately to the growing demands of the information age. This article gives an overview of how TVET programmes are being harnessed in Myanmar in support of lifelong learning for all, and to enhance further social, cultural and economic development. It is difficult to draw any quantitative conclusions concerning the TVET system for all-around development due to an absence of reliable empirical studies and the limited availability of statistical information. Partly as a result, this study has focused on two main areas: technical education and agricultural education. Nevertheless, the experience of Myanmar demonstrates that this country has in recent years made significant progress in several important areas of TVET--following the 1998 education reforms. These reforms resulted in the restructuring of TVET by transferring the responsibility for TVET from the Ministry of Education to several different specialized ministries, and through stressing the social and vocational relevance of education in terms of "pre-vocationalization" in the basic education system. (Contains 2 tables and 4 notes.)