Mettavalokanaya_International_Buddhist_Magazine_September_2019

The Image of
Monastic
Education….
The Tipitaka literature (esteemed
Buddhist scriptures) was brought
to Bagan from Thaton by King
Anawratha (Aniruddha) with the
help of Thera Shin Arahan in 1044 A.D,
the Bagan period. The king encouraged
the people of his country to establish
monastic schools to enable their children
to study these significant works (Mon,
2014).
That shows the laudable motivation
of King Anawratha to facilitate children’s
learning in monastic schools. In addition,
it saved on the country’s expenditure
as no salaries were needed to pay the
teachers as they were Buddhist monks.
The education status of the nation also
reached its peak at this time because the
monastic schools in every village were
led by scholarly monks.
Thanks to monastic education,
both spiritual and secular scholars
evolved in the Bagan period. Then in
the Ava period, eminent monk literary
scholars such as Shin Mahasilavamsa
and Shin Maharatthasara and lay literary
scholars like Myawadi Min Gyi U Sa and
Yaw Mingyi U Pho Hlaing in Konbaung
period emerged.
Even after the dethronement
of the last monarch, King Thibaw of
the Konbaung dynasty in 1885, the
State Advisor, Aggamahasaddhamajotikadhaja,
President Excellent Award,
President, Phaung Daw Oo
International University,
Mandalay, Myanmar.
Most Venerable Nayaka
Maha Thero
Myanmar
monasteries remained intact as the
schools with all the necessary resources
for children to learn. Sir Arthur Phayre,
the first chief commissioner of Burma,
attempted to incorporate the secular
education system with monastic schools
after seeing the facilities and wide spaces
of their monasteries. There were four
thousand nine hundred and nineteen
(4919) monastic education schools in the
British colonial period.
When prime minister U Nu widely
supported the monastic school education
system at the inception of independence,
called the Anti-Fascist People’s Freedom
League (AFPFL) period, there were up to
five thousand five hundred and forty-five
(5545) established monastic education
schools.
After 1962, during the Socialist
era, the karma of monastic education
schools fluctuated up and down under
the then government. Eventually, in
1982 all monastic schools were subject
to closure. A decade later, in response
to petitions by the senior monks of
the State Sanghamahanayaka Council,
the military government reopened the
monastic education schools in 1992.
In Myanmar there are currently
one thousand five hundred and eightyone
(1581) monastic education schools
"The Buddhist
education creates
meaningful world”….
of all levels i.e. elementary, postelementary,
secondary, and tertiary. In
order to develop and make progress in
monastic school education, the Monastic
Education Development Group (MEDG)
has been providing teacher training
and administrative courses for monastic
school staff.
The Education System in Myanmar
- The headwaters, from which the
mainstream of Myanmar education has
formed, are monastic education schools
led by Buddhist monks. “The beginning
of Myanmar education is from Monastic
schools” as the saying goes. The position
of Myanmar education today is still
lagging far behind that of international
education, so there is strong support for
the KG+12 education reform plan that
has been initiated by the Ministry of
Education. The scourge of the current
education system in Myanmar is “rote
learning”. The following reforms to
change this system are desperately
needed:
Reforming the Entire Education
System - As mentioned above, Myanmar
education is seriously deficient
compared to international provision. In
fact, the present education system of
Myanmar has been inherited from the
British, although that system no longer
exists in Britain as it has long since been
reformed. The timely initiation of the
Ministry of Education to embrace the
formation of a KG+12 system is fully
appreciated. In the 2019/2020 academic
year, it is heartening to know that Grades
1, 2, 3 and 6 have already been reformed.
However, when it comes to
the higher education sector there
are still many aspects to reform. In
national education law, the autonomy
of universities has been enacted by
the Union Parliament. Accordingly,
universities registered in Myanmar have
the right to autonomy, but criticism exists
concerning the limitations surrounding
increased efficiency and competitiveness
(University World News, 2018).
Reforming Teaching Methodology
- At present, the only teaching
methodology applied in Myanmar
education is “rote learning” which pays
most attention to memorizing facts. In
modern teaching systems the students
are taught how to analyze the facts
and to create new entities based on
those facts. When Myanmar students
see a reading passage, they think it has
to be memorized, while students of
other nationalities know it needs to be
analyzed. Myanmar students will receive
high marks if they give specifically
memorized answers in the examination
rather than attempting to answer the
questions themselves.
Visits to many countries to observe
their education systems have revealed
very different approaches. For example
a trip to the United World College
(UWC) in Singapore, witnessed Grade 8
students sitting an examination looking
at a projector screen displaying the
comment “Facts are important, but if
you do not analyze, they are useless”.
The students were using the facts on
the screen and applying them to present
their own views. Given that this situation
is happening worldwide, Myanmar
must urgently reform the teaching
methodologies used by teachers in all
schools.
Reforming Assessment - The
present assessment practice in Myanmar,
with matriculation at the end of the
education process, is the legacy of the
British. Britain has reformed its national
education assessment systems many
times since the end of the Second World
War. It is astonishing that Myanmar has
been using the same education system
until now. Daily assessment of the
activities for each and every student is
routinely used in classrooms globally.
Students respond well to this system as
they feel their activities are recognized
and appreciated. These regular
assessment records show the real
capabilities of the students and whether
to upgrade them to the next level yearly.
Examinations only imposed at the end of
an academic year often fail to determine
the real quality of a student. ‘There
are no national tests for pupils in basic
education in Finland’ (FNAFE, 2018). It
has often been purported that ‘Finnish
has one of the best education systems in
the world’ (Jackson, 2016).
In Myanmar, holding summative
examinations for Grade 4 (at township
level) and Grade 8 (at district level) is
really like giving the wrong treatment to a
patient. Deciding the abilities of students
just by holding external summative
examinations is committing a huge
mistake on the part of those innocent
children. Only the teachers who closely
look after the students will accurately
know their real capabilities and levels
of attainment. Worst of all is the terrible
waste of human resources that results
from failing 70 percent of Grade 10
(university entrance level) students.
In Australia, students of Year 12 can
apply to their preferred universities with
a score that takes 50 percent from their
school assessment record and the other
half from external examinations. As
the universities are granted autonomy,
they also have the right to admit their
preferred students. A “No pass, no fail,
all completion” system is exercised at
Year 12 in Australia.
Therefore, given the holistic nature
of international education, we suggest
that the students who pass Grade 10,
as per the status quo, should enter
university directly. Those students who
complete the courses under standard
assessment should be awarded a
completion certificate, then they should
have the chance to apply to their
preferred university and sit an entrance
exam for that university. Alternatively,
there should be another system for
students who have gained a completion
certificate, in so far as they could attend
a particular diploma program and when
they meet the entry requirements,
they could continue their education at
university level. Such a process would
effectively develop the human resources
of Myanmar, whilst simultaneously
the entire education system would
be significantly improved; altogether
creating a better educated society.
8 l Mettavalokanaya l September l 2019 l www.mettavalokanaya.com www.mettavalokanaya.com l 2019 l September l Mettavalokanaya l 9