National Context

National Context

The on-going political deadlock and crisis in Burma have resulted the people of Burma totally deprived of basic rights. Majority of its people are now living far below the poverty line, and the whole country is suffering from oppression and militarism. The military rules, abuse of human rights, lack of democracy, mismanagement and corruption have resulted in widespread poverty, poor health care, and low educational standards.  Now after two decades of being ‘Least-Developed Country’ status, coupled with continued oppression and lack of freedom and protracted civil war, there is no doubt that Burma is facing the humanitarian crisis. Many of the difficulties encountered by the population of Myanmar [Burma] are a result of ill-informed and outdated socio-economic policies, lack of public expenditure on much needed social services, an uncompromising attitude not only towards the NLD/democracy movement, but moreover towards the ethnic and ceasefire groups¹.

The latest Saffron Revolution, which started on 15 August 2007, led by Buddhist monks and students has clearly demonstrated people’s resentment and strongest desire for change. Once again, the military regime has failed to facilitate for democratic change. Instead the peaceful demonstrations by the religious orders of monks and students faced brutal crackdown, many were arrested and jailed without trial. While the world watched the brave hearts of Burmese monks, the Burmese people, under oppression, continue their struggle one way or another. Till democracy is restored, the people will again stand up for their rights.

When the powerful cyclone Nargis hit the delta regions, the rice basket of Burma on 2 and 3 May 2008, affecting 37 townships, approximately 130,000 people were dead or still missing². Many thousands of villages were totally destroyed. More than seven million people are affected. The Burmese regime failed not only to provide support and responses for the victims on time, but also denied the support and aids from international communities.  The mismanagement and corruption on international aid efforts by all levels of authorities have devastated the starving victims in the following weeks. The people, especially young children, are now suffering from post traumatic experiences.  The lack of skilled personnel and facilities inside Burma will lead to the situation getting worse over time. Moreover, there is no independent news agency in the region for reporting as the authorities violates freedom of press, which placed Burma the lowest rank of 164 ³. 

While the whole nation was still shocking from the effects of Cyclone Nargis, the military regime carried out the scheduled referendum on the controversial constitution on 10 May 2008. Neglecting the requests made by democratic opposition and international community, the referendum clearly demonstrated military regimes’ failure to cooperate with wider Burmese and international communities. Regrettably, this process does not signal any intention by the regime to listen to the will of Burmese people on their future. The proposed constitution is deeply flawed and intended only to entrench the military’s grip on power. It was drafted without any genuine involvement of opposition groups, including the National League for Democracy, and Burma’s ethnic minorities. The regime’s lack of good faith is clear as criticism of the referendum or the constitution is illegal in Burma. Undoubtedly, Burma will face more political crisis before and after 2010. Burma ranked 12th out of 177 states in order of their vulnerability to violent internal conflict and societal deterioration in the 2008 "failed state" index⁴.

Burma today faces an education crisis. The education system at all level is decaying – and along with it the future of Burma's next generation. The military regime has neglected the education, allocating minimal resources to public education. Burma's education crisis has left a whole generation of young people without the knowledge and skills necessary to rebuild a country that has suffered so much. Political change is now urgent as young people find themselves not only starved for knowledge, but starved for a future as well.

Low educational attainment is depriving many Myanmar (Burma) children of a good start in life and significantly lowering their income opportunities and productivity as adults.  The weak educational system also has long-term implications for the ability of the country to develop⁵.

Myanmar (Burma) families traditionally place a high value on education.  However, faced with deepening poverty, many can no longer afford to send their children to school.  More than 40 percent of children has no ability to complete their primary school, according to a report of UN coordinator to Burma in April 2007.  Although the official literacy rate is 84 percent, this does not adequately reflect the level of functional literacy and some studies in very remote areas show figures even below 10 percent⁶.

The national survey carried out by Burma Education Research Bureau in 1993 highlighted the worrying figures of only 28 percent of children proceeding into middle grade⁷.  Now fifteen years on, the children in both urban and remote ethnic areas are still out of schools, because there is no access to schooling⁸. The majors reasons are (1) family economy, (2) lack of schools and facilities, (3) lack of teachers (4) no curriculum/ educational books in local languages, and (5) frequent changes of education system due to lack of sustainable curriculum. The UNICEF’s first report on Child Protection (2008) provided information on increasing protection on global scale, while children in Burma are still facing abuses, such as child labor, forced labor and lack of basic schooling. Children in remotest part of Burma, such as central plain and border regions are in particular deprived of basic rights in education as less than 20 percent have been inside of a classroom. The same report highlighted on the very high drop-out rate in middle grades. Less than half of those enrolled in kindergarten manage to proceed to grade 5. As there is no proper support for teachers to upgrade their skills and knowledge and very low teacher salary and lowest social status, morale of Burmese teachers are so low that there is a high turnover rate in the teaching profession.

The children’s opportunities to schooling are very limited in many part of the country. Without basic education, it is hard to imagine a peaceful and productive society in the future.  While the nation’s children are not in schools at all level, those in schools are also learning an outdated curriculum which lacks the critical component of citizenship education. Moreover, the quality of education and its teaching approaches are not conducive to child’s all round development. There is a strong affiliation to militarism in education.  The imparting of knowledge is important, so is to preserve the cultural heritages and prepare for a democracy. It is utmost importance that all children are in school and they are receiving a quality education for development and a peaceful culture.

The quantity and quality of health care in Burma is very deprived due to ignorance of military regime, incompetent health policy and mismanagement in health care system. Burma currently faces a health crisis due to inadequate budget allocation. The military regimes expenditure accounts for over 40 percent of the national budget while health and education allocation accounts for 0.4 and 0.5 percent respectively⁹. Health is defined as “A state of physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” in ALMA-ATA Declaration in 1978. The Declaration also stated strongly, “Health is a fundamental human right”. It has been 30 years since the adoption of Declaration of Alma Ata and Burma was a signatory to the Declaration. However, the health status of the people all over Burma remained poor and getting worse day by day. The World Health Organization (World Health Report 2006) rates Burma last out of 192 countries for government expenditure on health as a percentage of general government expenditure and second to last in total expenditure on health as a percentage of GDP.

In 2006, the Burmese military regime announced new restrictions on international organizations including UN agencies operating in Burma which are important sources of outside assistance to Burma's approximately 50 million people. In March 2008, the ICRC said that its humanitarian work in Myanmar [Burma] has now reached near-paralysis. The confidential report by UN humanitarian coordinator to Burma said more than 30 percent of Burma’s people lived well below the poverty line and that Burma is the only country in the world where Beri Beri, a vitamin deficiency affliction, is one of the major causes of infant mortality¹⁰.

The national average for maternal mortality is 360 per 100,000, which varies widely among the different states and divisions¹¹. However, maternal mortality in Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) areas is between 1000 and 1,200 per 100,000 live births¹². It is quite different from data reported by the military regime. In addition, according to WHO statistics, infant and under-five mortality is very high, at 104 per 1,000 live births respectively but in IDPs areas, the under five-mortality rate is 221 per 1,000 live births¹³. According to 2007 AIDS epidemic update for Asia by UNAIDS and WHO, despite the overall decline in prevalence, the high infection levels found among young people (2.2% in 2005) (National AIDS Program Myanmar, 2005, 2006) are a concern, as is the persistently elevated prevalence of HIV among key populations at higher risk. Increased production of drugs and its related problems and human trafficking with neighboring countries are triggering factors that can cause blown out condition of this endemic disease.

Although hard data is still lacking in many areas, resent surveys and substantial anecdotal evidence suggest that significant segments of the population are experiencing extremely difficult socio-economic condition with a growing number of households living in acute poverty and facing other serious threats to their livelihood, including health care, insufficient education opportunity, and vulnerability to exploitation and abuse¹⁴.