MANY local students interested in studying overseas choose Singapore not only because of the high standard of education and good job prospects, but also because the city-state is considered to be much safer than other countries in the region, education consultants in Yangon said last month.

U Theik Zaw Pe, the director of Prime Link International Education Service, which recruits local students for Singapore schools, said the environment in that country is good for studying because no one has to worry about safety.

“There is no problem with students walking around even at midnight. In Thailand, on the other hand, people have to watch their purses and wallets when they walk on the streets. So I never urge Myanmar students to study in Thailand,” he said.

Daw Aye Aye Than, the general manager of Jenko-Shwemyin Educare Services, which recruits for schools in Malaysia, agreed that Singapore is safer than Malaysia or Thailand.

“We warn students before they go to Malaysia that they need to stay aware of their surroundings. We tell them to take care of their purses in Kuala Lumpur or they could be tempting targets for bag snatchers,” she said.

“We tell them to stay on the university campus as much as possible and if they have to go out, to tell someone where they are going and when they will be back,” she said.

Despite these warnings, none of the education consultants who talked to The Myanmar Times could recall a specific incident in which a student from Myanmar had been victimised by a crime in either Thailand or Malaysia.

U Kyaw Thu, an education consultant for schools in Malaysia and Singapore, said students would have no problems in Malaysia or Thailand if they stayed away from unsafe neighbourhoods.

“Singapore is a unique place because it is a small country and the hand of law can reach anywhere and provide safety for students wherever they go,” he said.
U Kyaw Thu also disputed the idea that students base their decision on where to study on safety.

“A lot of students want to study in the US, which is well known for its high crimes rates,” he said. “They are more interested in going to a school that will give them good job prospects.”

He said concerns about safety were a myth propagated by education agencies trying to recruit students for schools n Singapore.

“It’s a marketing strategy. They get students worried about crime rates in other countries so they will choose Singapore,” he said.

But one Myanmar student who studied in Thailand for three years said she had heard of two or three incidents in which international students were targeted by thieves.

“Such things are very rare and when they do occur they happen to students who are out at nightclubs until after midnight,” she said.