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April 29 - May 5, 2013
UN report details
Myanmar’s place in
global drug trade
16
By Bill O’Toole
A NEW report from the United
Nations Office of Drugs and Crime
has detailed the increasingly
interconnected world of organised
crime and smuggling in East Asia,
shedding light at the challenges
facing both Myanmar and the
region.
“This report outlines the
mechanics of illicit trade: the
how, where, when, who and why
of selected contraband markets
affecting this region,” UNODC
deputy executive director Mr
Sandeep Chawla said at the
report’s launch in Sydney on
April 16.
The report, “Transnational
Organized Crime in East Asia
and the Pacific”, is being touted
as “the first of its kind” because it
surveys many dozens of statistics
and studies published by Asian
governments, NGOs and UN
agencies in the 10 years to April
2012.
The scope of the report is vast,
covering the sale of counterfeit
pharmaceuticals in China, illegal
logging in Cambodia and tiger
poaching in Vietnam, and it
illuminates the role Myanmar
plays in regional and global trade
in illicit substances, including
drugs.
“Today, almost all of [East
Asia’s] heroin production in
the region is confined to the
politically-contested parts of
Myanmar,” the report says. The
report details how chemicals used
to refine heroin are smuggled into
Shan State from China’s Yunnan
Province, where the drug is made,
and then smuggled in turn back to
China, where it feeds the addiction
of over one million users.
In the case of amphetamine, the
report explains how manufacturing
yaba has become one of the few
industries where Myanmar can
beat its neighbours in the region.
“There is evidence of domestic
production in most of the countries
of this region, but two countries
have advantages that allow them
to undercut local prices. The
first is Myanmar, where political
instability in Shan State and the
special regions adjoining China
has provided cover for large-scale
drug manufacturing.”
The authors state in a “threats
summary” at the end of the
chapter on illicit drugs that this
manufacturing appears to be
prolonging armed conflicts in
both Shan and Kachin states, as
rebel armies are loathe to give
up territory and lose lucrative
markets.
The report also seeks to show
how the problems of one nation
can affect an entire region. “These
transnational criminal activities
are a global concern now. Illicit
profits from crimes in East Asia
and the Pacific can destabilise
societies around the globe. Dollars
from illicit activities in East Asia
can buy property and companies
and corrupt anywhere. We need
to talk about this, and organise a
coordinated response now,” said
Govt unveils education
policy changes for 2013
Poppy plants lie on the ground after police destroyed a field in Shan State in January 2012. Pic: Reuters
Mr Jeremy Douglas, the UNODC
representative for Southeast Asia
and the Pacific.
The report ends with a detailed
series of recommendations for
stemming the massive flow of
illegal goods, one of which simply
says, “Prioritise Myanmar”.
“Recent positive political
developments in Myanmar ...
provide a window of opportunity
to effectively address opium,
heroin and [methamphetamine]
production in the country,” it
says.
“Poppy-growing areas are
becoming more accessible to law
enforcement intervention, and
there is high-level pressure from
the president to eliminate poppy
cultivation.”
But it warns that “international
experience clearly indicates that
crop elimination efforts must
be accompanied by effective
alternative development
strategies if the livelihoods [and
human rights] of poor farmers are
to be protected, and the benefits
are to be sustained.”
Civil society plans
national education
conference for June
Minister announces changes at three-day seminar,
including steps to tackle high school drop-out rates
By Yhoon Hnin
THE Ministry for Education will
make almost 30 policy changes for
the 2013-14 school year, including
extending primary and secondary
schooling from 11 to 12 years.
Other policies will see the high
school-leaving rate tackled through
improving the transfer of students
from primary to secondary schools,
applying pressure on parents
to keep their children in school
and providing more than 11,000
scholarships.
The recommendations of the
recently completed Comprehensive
Education Sector Review will also
be implemented, while teachers
will receive training in childcentred
education techniques and
be provided teaching aids.
The policy changes were
announced by Minister for
Education Dr Mya Aye at the end
of a three-day seminar at Yangon
University on April 25.
Other new policies will see school
councils established by the end of
July, the scouts program developer
further and more private schools
opened in accordance with Ministry
of Education rules.
The seminar – which was hosted
by the Ministry of Education
and attended by professors,
teachers, and regional educational
representatives – centred around
six different reports, each dealing
with a different area of concern.
“We are planning to upgrade
Myanmar education in line with
ASEAN standards. The workshops
will discuss the difficulties
and barriers facing Myanmar
education. Then we will find out
which education sector needs to
change its ways,” Dr Mya Aye said
in his opening address on April 23.
“We are planning to implement
a long-term project for education
development which will take 20
years. In the short term, we will
divide this project into four sectors
of five years.
“Making free elementary
education compulsory, offering
scholarships, increasing teacher
recruitment and upgrading basic
education infrastructure are part
of this plan.”
The reports focused on topics
including the Comprehensive
Education Sector Review,
upgrading basic education, preelementary
education and teacher
training centres.
Dr Mya Aye also said the 30
percent increase in the education
budget would allow the ministry
to upgrade and improve existing
buildings, and build more sports
facilities.
The infrastructure works will
result in a reduction in classroom
sizes in the long term, as the new
classrooms can accommodate a
maximum 50 students.
There is also money in the budget
for the recruitment of new teachers,
he said.
English pilot
program to be
launched in
three schools
By Yhoon Hnin
THREE schools have been selected
for a pilot project to improve
the quality of English teaching,
Minister for Education Dr Mya
Aye has announced.
Speaking at a conference on
upgrading national education at
Yangon University on April 23,
the minister said the objective
was to uncover weaknesses in
education and to fill the gaps.
The schools are Basic Education
High School 1 Bahan, Basic
Education Primary School 2
Kamaryut and an elementary
school in Pyinmana township,
Mandalay Region. The project
will examine teaching methods
and the assessment of students.
“If these three schools are
successful in implementing the
pilot project then we will apply
these methods to other schools. I am
negotiating with the British Council
and trainers from Singapore for
the teaching of English in basic
education,” Dr Mya Aye
The minister also said a political
science department would soon
open in Yangon University.
By Aung Shin
CIVIL society groups are
planning to hold a national
conference on education
reform in June, the National
Network for Education Reform
said at a meeting in Yangon
last week.
The conference, to be
held on June 8 and 9, will
include participants from
the network’s member
organisations, as well as social
associations, political parties,
education experts and other
individuals.
The venue and program
will be announced after a
network meeting on May 7
but organisers have already
decided that they will focus
on gathering the public’s
views on what a national
education policy should look
like. Organisers say the
conference will be the first
on education organised by
the non-government sector in
“decades”. In February 2012,
the government convened a
Development Policy Options
conference in Nay Pyi Taw
that focused primarily on
health and education policy.
Dr Thein Lwin said the
government’s conference was
organised through a “topdown”
approach, while the
network’s would focus on
giving perspectives from the
ground level.
“National education
policy is the main focus
[of the conference],” said
National Network for
Education Reform member
Dr Thein Lwin. “This policy
must be focused on public
opinion. We are also going
to discuss other education
sectors, accountability and
responsibility, management,
objectives, curriculum
suggestions, evaluation and
exam systems and vocational
education.”
The Education Network,
an initiative of the National
League for Democracy of
which Dr Thein Lwin is also a
member, will donate K200,000
towards covering the cost of
holding the conference, he
said.
Outcomes of the conference
will be reported to a Pyithu
Hluttaw education committee
and could be reflected in
legislation submitted during
the next session of parliament,
which begins in June, Dr
Thein Lwin said.
Union Solidarity and
Development Party Pyithu
Hluttaw representative Dr
Mya Oo proposed the creation
of a national education law
at a parliament meeting in
November, 2012. The NLD
has also been pushing hard
for an overhaul of education
policy.
In addition to the upcoming
national conference, NNER
has already started running
regional education seminars.
NNER was formed following
an education seminar in
Yangon on October 6-7, 2012
and includes political parties,
activist networks like the 88
Generation, non-government
groups and monastic,
Christian and private schools.