ABSTRACT
Myanmar’s education system has been heavily shaped by over sixty years of military rule, resulting in a centralised, underfunded and dilapidated system that failed to meet the needs of the Myanmar citizens. Yet between 2012 and 2020, the elected government, first under President Thein Sein and then under the NLD, commenced a gigantic task of education reform. This chapter gives an overview of the reforms in basic, higher and teacher education and the challenges faced by the Ministry of Education and the supporting development partners in delivering the promised transformation. It will also engage with the changes across monastic and ethnic education that serve the poorest in society including in remote and conflict-affected areas. The chapter concludes with a review of the effects of COVID-19 and the 2021 coup that stopped the reforms in their tracks and resulted in a large proportion of teachers and academics joining the Civil Disobedience Movement.
