The Financing of Education

In Myanmar all schools are financed and administered by the State. The Ministry of Education, in conjunction and co-ordination with twelve other ministries, shares the burden of education. However, the Ministry of Education is almost solely responsible for the school system. In addition, there are: monastic schools, which have recently revived by the Ministry of Religious Affairs; technical high schools and vocational schools, under the Ministry of Science and Technology; and agriculture high schools, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.

The government expenditure for education and for the Department of Basic Education during the period 1988–2000 is showed in the table below:

Government educational expenditure 1998–2000 (millions kyat)

Budget year	Educational expenditure			Expenditure for Basic Education
	Current	Capital	Total	Current	Capital	Total	%
1988-89	1,139	150	1,289	969	86	1,055	81.8
1989-90	2,699	248	2,947	2,428	168	2,596	88.1
1990-91	2,956	929	3,885	2,522	628	3,159	81.8
1991–92	3,588	1,222	4,810	3,073	515	3,588	74.6
1992-93	3,578	1,157	4,735	3,128	288	3,416	72.1
1993-94	4,471	976	5,447	3,942	206	4,148	76.2
1994-95	5,640	1,158	6,798	4,270	395	4,665	68.4
1995-96	4,514	2,033	6,547	3,862	661	4,523	69.1
1996-97	4,737	4,914	9,651	4,202	726	4,928	51.1
1997-98	5,110	4,097	9,207	4,506	795	5,231	56.8
1998-99	6.087	2,473	8,560	5,183	630	5,813	67.9
1999-00	6,612	3,547	10,159	5,509	923	6,432	63.3
Total	51,131	22,904	74,035	43,594	5,951	49,545	66.9
Yearly Average	4,261	1,909	6,170	3,633	496	4,129
Source: Ministry of Education, May 2000.

One of the long-term strategic goals of the government is to build and open public schools throughout the country in order to ensure equity and accessibility of education to every citizen. Although this strategy is continually and gradually implemented, there are some remote areas without schools. In order to meet the local demand for education, the local communities of those rural areas are encouraged to build and run schools on their own initiation and expense with the promise that the schools will be gradually converted into state schools. Each and every such school is academically affiliated to a nearby public school and is placed under the supervision of the township education officer. That is why these schools are known as ‘affiliated schools’.

Administratively, these schools are private in nature and managed by School Supervision Committees, including representatives of the community and teaching staff, and the principal/headmaster. Student fees are the main source of income. Since the schools are privately administered, the rates of school fees vary from community to community and from year to year (generally, 10 to 100 kyat per month). In addition to fees, some schools also receive donations, in the form of cash and materials. Nevertheless, since affiliated schools are located in very remote, low-income rural areas, the amount of individual contribution is usually very small. The communities contribute with their labour, as well as construction materials, repair, and maintenance of school buildings.

About 90% of the school’s income is spent on teacher salaries. Affiliated schools employed about 5,000 teachers in 1987–88. The land in most cases is available free of cost and in some places is donated by the landowners. The number of affiliated schools in 1972–73 (the year such schools were officially permitted to be opened), 1987–88, 1988–89 and 1989–90 is shown in the table below:

Number of affiliated schools

The number of affiliated schools increased year by year, but decreased considerably in 1989–90 as many affiliated schools were converted into State schools in accordance with the government policy emphasis on rural development.

The establishment of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) is quite common in public schools. Financially, PTAs provide an important support to the schools. The major and regular source of income are the annual PTA fees levied on the students. PTA funds are normally used for: construction of new buildings; maintenance of school buildings and facilities; procurement/provision of school furniture; annual meetings and prize distributions; extra-curricular activities such as sports competitions, arts exhibitions, essay writing competitions, etc. In some cases, PTAs also appoint additional teachers since most schools are understaffed.

According to a survey carried out by Myanmar Education Research Bureau in 1972–73, PTAs covered 21.2% of the cost of the buildings, 63.8% of the cost of furniture and equipment, 63.4% of the cost of repairs, and 87.7% of general contingencies. The largest portion of PTAs contribution was allocated to State high schools.

An encouraging aspect of Myanmar society is the keen interest and support shown by the community, especially the major stakeholders of the educational process—parents and entrepreneurs. The further expansion of PTAs and the establishment of School Board of Trustees have been widely accepted, jointly with the notion of co-partners who share the responsibility to raise revolving funds in order to meet school requirements such as infrastructure, teaching-learning facilities and social welfare. During the last financial year, these stakeholders contributed a total of K3.182 billion and US$170,000 for the improvement of the school infrastructure and purchase of modern equipment (Ministry of Education, July 2000).