Myanmar National Education Conference 2024 opens; Chairman of State Administration Council Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing delivers address
Nay Pyi Taw June 25
The Myanmar National Education Conference opened at MICC-II here this morning, addressed by Chairman of State Administration Council Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.
Also present were SAC Vice Chairman Deputy Prime Minister Vice-Senior General Soe Win, SAC Joint Secretary Lt-Gen Ye Win Oo, SAC members, union ministers, union level officials, the Nay Pyi Taw Council chair, senior military officers from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief, the Nay Pyi Taw Command commander, deputy ministers, rectors, principals, ministry officials, resource persons, teachers and students.
First, Chairman of the Steering Committee to hold Myanmar National Education Conference 2024,Vice-Senior General Soe Win, SAC Joint Secretary Lt-Gen Ye Win Oo, SAC member General Mya Tun Oo, Union Minister for Education Dr Nyunt Pe and Union Minister for Science and Technology Dr Myo Thein Kyaw formally opened the ceremony.
Senior General Min Aung Hlaing unveiled the archway by pushing a button.
At the second part of the ceremony, artistees of the Fine Arts Department, Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture sang the song “The issue of education, the song of the conference” and staged dance performances.
In his address, the Senior General said the number of well-educated persons is the foundation of national development.
Hence, the theme of this year’s conference is “Promoting education for the development of human resources”. The goal of the country is to build a prosperous future state with educated persons imbued with educational and technological knowledge. So, efforts will be made to realize a multifaceted education system that meets the quality standard.
In fact, education involves trying to attain detailed knowledge getting to know, or having a broader knowledge. Studying can be conducted through formal learning, non-formal learning and informal learning. From that stage, a person will have to join the lifelong learning process.
Knowledge is like the light that can overcome darkness. It can also overcome ignorance. In this regard, Buddha taught mankind that there was no such thing as knowledge.
Education can provide skill and qualifications required for existence, and can also develop intrinsic qualities, such as, thinking power, problem solving skills, critical thinking, creativity, and cooperation. A person with all those qualifications may find better job opportunities.
Highly skilled and educated persons can get high salary jobs. Hard working persons with creative power, high-level IQ, perseverance become successful in their career. University, college and school friends can become associates. All should disseminate knowledge – education is the key to success in every field among the public.
The power of a nation depends on education.
Students with high-level IQ and five physical and intellectual qualifications are the strength and future of the nation. Parents care and nurture their children with love and kindness. When children reach school age, they start to attend classes at school. Parents take care of them at home, and teachers do the same work at school. So, teachers are the second parents of students.
In Myanmar culture, teachers are loved and respected as infinite benefactors. Teachers are honored and recognized for their noble work of developing their students. The Myanmar society places teachers at the same level with parents and praised their invaluableness.
The benefactor mentors are urged to guide their students, with parental love, to become polite, clever and educated.
As the majority of the people are middle-income earners, they rely on government education.
Being trusted by the public, everyone is urged to place emphasis on nurturing all-round outstanding youths in their school education.
Cultivating youths who are instilled with five strengths and qualifications and can be relied on by the country in the future rests on proper guidance of teachers.
In the basic education sector, the number of students increased from 5.3 million in the 2021-2022 academic year when schools were reopened in the post-COVID-19 period to more than 8 million in the 2023-2024 academic year. It was learnt that more than 7.3 million students have been admitted to school as of 21 June in the 2024-2025 academic year.
With the progress of global circumstances, everyone should at least complete middle-school education to lead a life. Therefore, the government has set an objective to help everyone to study up to KG+9 level education.
To achieve the goal, local authorities, teachers, par-ents and elders are urged to make concerted efforts through organizing everyone and holding talks and supporting them to complete KG+9 level education as compulsory education, to enable all school-aged children and all primary school-aged children, whose rate of school admission is currently and temporarily low, to go to school.
On the other hand, it was found that school admission rates for middle-school and high school had increased and their drop-out rates had decreased.
It is urged that more learning opportunities including technical, agricultural and livestock breeding and vocational education be created for those who have passed middle school education or Grade 9.
The results of matriculation examinations for the 2024 academic year were announced on 11 June and 74,592 out of 128,820 students who took the exams passed matriculation, resulting in a 57.9 percent passing rate.
Concerted efforts must be made to enable almost all those who passed the matriculation to acquire university education.
As ours is a country that has placed emphasis on agriculture and livestock breeding, a large number of experts who can manufacture agriculture and livestock breeding products are needed.
Therefore, in the 2023-2024 academic year and 2024-2025 academic year, 85 technical, agriculture and livestock breeding high schools were opened in 84 districts.
Those who have completed their middle school education can study at the high schools and they will be trained to acquire skills and qualifications required to manufacture value-added products needed in the market.
In acquiring formal school education, there are essential factors such as proper schools, lecture rooms, classrooms, libraries, toilets, gymnasiums, sport grounds, infrastructures, teaching aids, teaching methods with the use of technologies, internet connections, drinking water supply, proper learning environment and characteristics of schools. Moreover, as the government believes that the education standards of the country will make progress within a short period if there are sufficient number of qualified teachers, refresher courses for teachers, modern curriculums, correctness of student-centered teaching methods, proper assessment systems, systematic management and provision of welfare, the government has given priority to education and has been exerting more efforts.
If education officers, principals, parents, teachers and students themselves appreciate, preserve and promote the good reputation of their schools, the educational reputation of each school will surely spread to the entire country.
In making efforts for betterment of oneself, one's class, one's school and one's country in accordance with the four pledges of school councils, teachers are responsible for correctly shaping the morale, disciplines and education of students.
It is necessary for teachers to nurture students to possess fine spirits like being polite, clever, honest, sincere, sympathetic and proper manners like acting in accordance with public ethics and possessing the spirit of accountability and responsibility, respect for the time, habit of cooperation, striking balance between ego and altruism and patriotism.
To completely prevent bad manners like littering in one's classroom and school compound, writing on the surface of school table, chewing betel and smoking, students must be nurtured and instilled with the fine practice good citizens such as respecting and observing laws, rules and disciplines in accordance with the motto "National discipline starts at school."
I would also like to order them to develop and implement a plan to eliminate illiteracy for the literacy of the entire population, including the rural people, and to continuously open reading circles to promote reading, from the elimination of illiteracy to the elimination of those who do not read.
Learning higher education is not only for obtaining a degree, but also develops the socioeconomic life of individuals and creates citizens who are rich in multi-faceted knowledge. It will be more beneficial for the country only if many graduates who are thoroughly educated in quality advanced sciences emerge.
Since the curriculum covering a field of study and subject in universities from the basic level to the advanced level is precisely defined and enacted, university students will be able to get the good basics of the subject they are studying and be able to understand it thoroughly.
University education can improve critical analysis skills, analytical skills, problem solving skills and collective action skills and in the future, skills and good habits that are very valuable to the country, will also be obtained for himself and the country.
Therefore, in order for university students in Myanmar's universities to have the opportunity to learn international quality higher education, the curricula have been reviewed and updated, and the number of training courses will be increased for the teachers to improve the quality. He would like to urge them to use teaching strategies effectively under the supervision of university professors and promote teaching and learning, the Senior General said.
We are clearly seen that the countries with the most educated citizens are the most developed countries. "Educated" citizens means "competence" and "most" means "quantity", so it is obvious that our country needs to become a country with a large number of qualified educators, and it is necessary to clearly implement an outcome-based education system to ensure quality.
The Senior General said he want the teachers to teach and train the students to be active learning by using student-centered teaching and learning system for lessons, exercises, teaching methods and the processes that encourage innovative and creative skills.
When teachers and students use the research project-based teaching and learning system, teachers need to search in advance either from the library or internet to establish appropriate research project topics for each group of students.
The Senior General said he would like to encourage them to establish a library culture in universities and to develop nationally beneficial research results so that only by using the internet to search and read, they can learn to collectively carry out the project successfully.
The Senior General said with best wishes that all the experts attending this conference will be able to read and discuss the 36 conference monographs that will be read and discussed with the aim of "Further promoting the development of human resources and education", and they will be able to formulate short-term and long-term business plans and implement them successfully in order to build a democratic country based on a federal system with well-educated intellectuals.
After that, artists from the Myawady Television under the supervision of Directorate of Public Relations and Psychological Warfare, Ministry of Information and Department of Arts under the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture, performed the songs “Sar Thin Kyaung Ka Khaung Laung Tan” and “Phu Pwint Waisi, Ah Nar Gar Si”, and the musical drama “Education and Veracity”, which was watched and cheered by the Chairman of the State Administration Council, the Prime Minister and those attending the ceremony.
After that, Dr. Nyunt Pe, the Union Minister for Education and the Secretary of the Organizing Committee of the Myanmar Education Conference (2024) presented the Myanmar National Education Conference (2024) commemorative gift to the SAC Chairman.
After that, the SAC Chairman and those who attended the ceremony took a photo together.
After that, the SAC Chairman and those who attended the ceremony watched the displays of the Myanmar Education Conference (2024) commemorative galleries with interest.
The Myanmar Education Conference (2024) will be held until June 27 in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and other related ministries under the theme of “Promoting education for the development of human resources”.