This paper reviews the education-related reforms that Myanmar’s nominally civilian government initiated in 2011. It specifically analyses whether the reforms paved the way for the implementation of mother tongue–based multilingual education (MTB-MLE) for all ethnic nationalities. The paper argues that the reforms fell short of allowing MTB-MLE for all ethnic nationalities, although it did permit the teaching of ethnic minority languages at public primary schools.
Our article gives an insight into the coup’s impact on Myanmar by focusing on the higher education sector. At this time of crisis, it draws on a set of qualitative data gathered through online interviews with students and university staff to produce an analysis of this extremely challenging chapter in the history of the country and its education system.
This paper will provide an overarching summary of the evolution of the drug economy in Myanmar before shifting the focus to examine how this phenomenon’s scope and characteristics have changed after the coup: Have the recent socio-political shifts exacerbated or weakened the already existing trends, and how?
In Myanmar, ethnonationalism is often invoked as an explanation for the country’s perpetual violence and armed conflict. However, it is important to unpack the concept of ethnonationalism per se and how it is reproduced. To illuminate the dynamics since the 2021 coup, this chapter takes a step back from recent events to consider the case of the Ta’ang rebel movements in Myanmar’s borderlands.
Following a brief description of the political reasons behind the military coup of 1 February 2021 in Myanmar, as well as the international dynamics that had facilitated it, this paper analyses the several economic and political challenges imposed on the country’s labor movement in the weeks and months after the start of the crisis.
