ABSTRACT

Myanmar’s education system went from being one of the most admired across Asia to one of the weakest and poorest systems in the region over a span of 70 years. Decades of underinvestment and civil strife resulted in the slow and steady decay of the state education system across the country. In 1964 under the socialist regime, all private schools and universities were closed. It was also at this time that Burmese was made the medium for teaching at all schools, abolishing the colonial legacy of English schools for the elite, and instigating ethnic strife as ethnic languages were no longer allowed to be used in schools.