A group of monks and lay students hard at work at a school in Bago township. — Pic: Wai Phyo Myint

BUDDHIST monks have played an important role in helping to develop the education sector in Myanmar throughout history, even though they are not technically supposed to teach laypeople.

With Theravada Buddhism starting to flourish in Myanmar under the patronage of King Anawrahta (1044 - 1077AD) during the Bagan Dynasty, monks propagated Buddha’s teachings and helped people acquire basic literacy.

Monasteries have since served as places where people learn the three Rs of reading, writing and arithmetic. Students are also tutored in ethics and how to live a Buddhist life.

U Kaung, the late Commissioner of Education and an expert in Myanmar education, has remarked that monastic education is good for encouraging morality in people and enshrining Myanmar culture in the students.

In the past, everyone went to monastic schools when they were old enough and it did not matter if you were rich or poor, commoner or royalty.

The education was free but students, called hpongyi kyaung tha, had to keep the monastery schools clean and tidy. They also helped monks and novices to carry food on their daily search for alms.

Thanks to the monasteries’ role in education, British people who visited Myanmar in 1800s observed that there were more literate Myanmar than literate British.

With Myanmar falling to the British piecemeal during the 19th century, British rulers began to impose their educational system by opening missionary schools.

English was the medium of instruction in the schools and students learned the doctrine of Christianity on the side in the same way they learned Buddhism in monasteries.

After the whole country had been annexed in 1885, the British educational system expanded further. In big cities like Yangon and Mandalay, missionary schools were favoured by well-to-do parents who sent their children there in droves to learn the British way.

But monastery schools were still relied upon in small towns and villages and were kept going as alternatives for those who could not afford to go to missionary schools.

In the early 1900s, Myanmar had a higher literacy rate than many other Asian countries. In 1931, 56 percent of men and 16.5pc of women were literate.

Today, monastic education continues side-by-side with the government’s formal educational system but it has evolved. Private teachers, who are young volunteers and retired public servants from the education sector, are appointed on a salary basis. Classrooms are built within the monastery compounds and the abbots act as principals.

Monastic schools today teach children from needy families or orphans. Many students at monastery schools in Yangon and Mandalay come from the countryside and have been sent there by senior monks in their community.

Since monastic schools subsist on donations from the public, they operate differently to government schools. Many serve as boarding schools.

To be certified by the government, monasteric schools have to cooperate with local township authorities.

They must also use the same system of grades, curricula and examinations as state schools. Apart from these courses, monastery schools also preserve the tradition of teaching children basic Buddhist principles.