Education in Myanmar

The educational system of Myanmar (also known as Burma) is operated by the government Ministry of Education. Universities and professional institutes from upper Burma and lower Burma are run by two separate entities, the Departments of Higher Education (Lower Burma and Upper Burma), whose office headquarters are in Yangon and Mandalay respectively. The education system is based on the United Kingdom's system, due to nearly a century of British and Christian presences in Burma. "The first Government high school was founded by the British colonial administration in 1874. Two years later, this Government High School was upgraded and became University College, Rangoon."^[4] Nearly all schools are government-operated, but recently, there has been an increase in privately funded schools (which specialise in English). In Myanmar, schooling is compulsory until the end of elementary school, probably about nine years old. However the international standard for schooling is 15 to 16 years old.

The literacy rate of Myanmar, according to the 2014 Myanmar Census stands at 89.5% (males: 92.6%, females: 86.9%).^[2] The annual budget allocated to education by the government is low; only about 1.2% is spent per year on education. English is taught as a second language from kindergarten.

Most of the early mission schools are since 1860 (such as La Salle schools) in Myanmar were nationalised on 1 April 1965 after the order restoration of general Ne Win.^[5]

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI)^[6] finds that Myanmar is fulfilling only 84.3% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to education based on the country's level of income.^[7] HRMI breaks down the right to education by looking at the rights to both primary education and secondary education. While taking into consideration Myanmar's income level, the nation is achieving 96.7% of what should be possible based on its resources (income) for primary education but only 71.9% for secondary education.^[7]