South, A;
Lall, M;
(2016)
Language, Education and the Peace Process in Myanmar.
Contemporary Southeast Asia
, 38
(1)
pp. 128-153.
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Abstract
This article analyses the relationship between the politics of education and language, and armed conflict and ongoing peace process in Myanmar. It discusses the state education system, which since the military coup of 1962 has promoted the idea of the country based on the language and culture of the Bamar (Burman) majority community, and the school systems developed by ethnic armed groups which oppose the military government. Ethnic opposition education regimes have developed mother tongue-based school systems. In some cases, the Mon for example, these broadly follow the government curriculum, while being locally owned and delivered in ethnic languages; in others, such as the Karen, the local education system diverges significantly from the Myanmar government curriculum, making it difficult for students to transition between the two systems. This article explores the consequences of these developments, and how reforms in Myanmar since 2011 — including the peace process, which remains incomplete and contested — have opened the space for educational reform, and the possible “convergence” of state and non-state education regimes. Ethnic nationality communities remain determined to conserve and [End Page 128] reproduce their own languages and cultures, adopting positions in relation to language and education which reflect broader state-society relations in Myanmar, and in particular ethnic politicians’ demands for a federal political settlement to decades of armed conflict. The article concludes that sustainable resolution to Myanmar’s protracted state-society conflict is unlikely to be achieved until elites can negotiate agreement on ethnic language and teaching policies.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Language, Education and the Peace Process in Myanmar |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Publisher version: | https://muse.jhu.edu/article/614290 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2017 ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute. All rights reserved. Language, Education and the Peace Process in Myanmar by Ashley South and Marie-Carine Lall, first appeared in Contemporary Southeast Asia, vol 38/1 (April 2016) pp.128-153. This work is reproduced here with the kind permission of the publisher, ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, http://bookshop.iseas.edu.sg |
| Keywords: | Myanmar/Burma, education, conflict, mother tongue-based education, language rights |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Education, Practice and Society |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1505876 |
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