3rd EBCSP ethnic leaders meeting to share, discuss, learn and work together
For the third leaders
meeting, ethnic leaders who are members of the Eastern Burma Community
Schooling Project (EBCSP) gathered together at the Teacher Preparation Course
in Mae Sot. The leaders discussed, shared and learned about each ethnic group’s situation and education system. The meeting ran
from 6th to 8th October.
One area of real
progress from the meeting last year was that more ethnic community based
organizations (CBOs) joined EBCSP to co-operate together in order to enhance
their respective education systems in the ethnic areas. These new members of
EBCSP include Mon, Naga, Kachin and Pa-Oh ethnic CBOs. Thus, there are now nine
ethnic groups represented: Kayan, Karreni. Kachin, Lahu, Naga, Mon, Pa-Oh,
Shan, and Ta’ang as well as eleven different ethnic CBOs.
Eastern Burma ethnic
MTTs (Mobile Teacher Trainers) who recently finished their first mobile cycle
joined the meeting as well. The first meeting was on 6th October and
it ran from 8:30am to 7:00 pm.
On Saturday, Oct 6th,
Tharamu Ler Htoo, KTWG chair person, started the meeting by introducing the agenda.
On the first day, it focused mainly on the Mobile Teacher Training Program and
Mobile Teacher Trainers. Thara Scott, the ethnic MTT coordinator, reviewed the Mobile
Teacher Training Program for those who were already members of EBSCP and
introduced it to those who were new to the program. This section was particularly
important for the Mon group, as new members of the leaders meeting, but also because
its members will train as MTTs in the next mobile cycle.
Afterwards, the groups with
established MTTs discussed and shared their experience of the MTTs’ roles,
their challenges and strengths. Common challenges include communication,
transportation and security as some areas can’t access either phone or internet
to communicate with local leaders for trainings and workshops and some areas
are still experiencing conflict especially in the Ta’ang and Shan areas.
The discussion was
lively as there were many questions from those groups newly starting MTT
programs, and answers from the groups with established MTT programs who shared
their experience. The discussions were very interesting. In particular the Mon
MTTs, who are newcomers, were very curious about the experience of the other
MTTs and the challenges they have experienced as they plan the launch of their
MTT program after the leaders meetings.
After hearing about the
MTT roles and their current experience, one Kachin leader eagerly said, “I
would like to request assistance from the EBCSP as we Kachin, are willing to
have MTTs and Summer Vacation Training in the coming year; and we would like our
members to reach the Kachin areas which need these the most”.
Then, each ethnic group
spoke about its education system in the context of political reform. One common
problem facing some ethnic areas is that of children who don’t have access to
middle and high schools after primary level. Therefore, in some areas, in order
to attend middle and high schools, boys go and study as novices at monastic
schools. However, girls just finish primary level as they can’t have access to
higher level education. As in the earlier discussions, there were many
questions and answers between the different ethnic leaders and finally the
meeting finished successfully around 7 pm.
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