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Government’s curriculum minifies core principles of Myanmar’s ethnic literature
March 6, Aie Pone
Late last year, Myanmar’s Ministry of
Education (MOE) and chief of peace negotiator, Railway Minister U Aung Min,
approved a reform that allowed Mon
language to be taught in government schools throughout the country.
According to the Mon Literature and Culture
Committee (MLCC), that reform has been accompanied by several stipulations
which threaten the integrity of ethnic languages taught in the country’s
schools. The proposed ethnic language teaching plan of the education
department, aims to restrict, and in some cases augment, the ethnic literature
taught throughout the country’s schools.
“I
have already translated the government school textbook” commented a Mon
literati, who is annoyed with the current system. “The problem is if we are teaching Mon children sentences
written in the Burmese language that we translated, they will not be able to
understand what is taught using the Mon
alphabet. If they do not properly study the alphabet it is much more difficult
for them to understand,” he added.
Issues
with cross-language translation are what threaten the success of the education
curriculum. Such phrases as “MaMa WaWa, HtaHta Ka” in Burmese, when translated
to the Mon language do not share the same meaning. “If we teach the same
meaning using the Burmese language, the Mon vocabularies are changed and the
Mon children can’t understand,” commented the Mon literati.
The
government has already formed a Burmese textbook for ethnic languages schools by translating
text directly for basic primary school grades of kindergarten, first standard
and second standard. On March 1, the
minister of education stated that an effort to improve the situation will be
made and that they will appoint experts
in ethnic literature, and provide training to assist them with rectifying the
issue.
http://www.maukkha.org/index.php/news-menu/myanmar-educational-news-maukkha/3048-2013-03-05-10-31-50
Several
ethnic groups do not want to accept the government curriculum because of the
inequality in language use and
difficulties presented during translation These groups are more interested in
freely establishing a basic education primary school textbook which is overseen
by state education committee.
The government has already prepared and
trained teachers to teach ethnic
languages and ethnic literature.
Ethnic groups accuse the government of not maintaining and developing the Myanmar’s ethnic literature; the government should allow freedom in the execution of the ethnic curriculum freely. The current government system does not offer the same benevolence as the governments before, several ethnics have remarked.
In 1954 the Mon Education Board was established by the government and was given permission to teach the Mon curriculum in government schools as well as in the Buddhism Culture University. After U Nay Win seized state power (in 1962), in 1964 the ethnic literature teaching was forbidden until recently
Ethnic groups accuse the government of not maintaining and developing the Myanmar’s ethnic literature; the government should allow freedom in the execution of the ethnic curriculum freely. The current government system does not offer the same benevolence as the governments before, several ethnics have remarked.
In 1954 the Mon Education Board was established by the government and was given permission to teach the Mon curriculum in government schools as well as in the Buddhism Culture University. After U Nay Win seized state power (in 1962), in 1964 the ethnic literature teaching was forbidden until recently
Education experts have suggested, Myanmar should
adopt an education system similar to that of the Southeast Asian nation of
Malaysia. Ethnic languages are encouraged
in the basic primary school education of most Malaysian citizens.
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