Hsu/ Myo Gyi (NSS) – June 15

Based on the findings of a recent survey, it has been disclosed that approximately two hundred thousand students remain unable to resume their academic pursuits following the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the responsible personnel read out this finding fact during the symposium held at the Myanmar National Education Conference (2023).

According to the 2019 Inter-censal survey in Myanmar, the population of individuals aged 5 years and older was 46.5 million. Of this population, 8.1% had never attended school, while approximately 18.2 million had reached lower secondary school level, and over seven million had reached upper secondary. Only three million individuals had graduated.  

During the symposium, the research paper emphasized the importance of bringing back students who have been away from school for various reasons. The objective of conducting the paper is to suggest different approaches to achieve this goal. 

In a recent research study, the descriptive statistic was utilized to present the student demographics for primary, lower secondary and upper secondary school levels from the academic year 2017-18 to 2022-23.

According to the study, it stated that there were nearly nine million students respectively in 2017-18, 2018-19, and 2019-20 academic years.  

According to the survey, impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on student enrollment signified a sharp decline in 2021-22 academic year, plummeting by over 500,000 students. However, as per the survey, a positive rebound was back in 2022-23 academic year with over 700,000 student enrollments nationwide. 

However, the research highlighted that approximately 200,000 students have not yet been able to return to school when comparing the statistics in pre and post-Covid-19. 

The paper recommends to implement programs for those old students to be able to rejoin their respective classes without needing to sit for the entrance exam. 

In addition, for students who were unable to attend school, it is advised that these students are to sit for the entrance examination of a grade or level lower than their desired grade in case they don’t want to restart the grade at which they suspended themselves and want to skip the grade with which fixes with their current ages. This approach should offer a potential pathway for students to accelerate their learning and bridge the gap caused by their absence from formal schooling because of Covid-19. 

For the time being, the Ministry of Education is implementing the KG+12 new education system for the 2023-24 academic year which is in line with the National Education Law.