Blooming Night  

As my concern is education, I love to tell people about the education in exile.

I was born in Burma in the jungle. My mother told me that since I was in her womb, she has to escape from the Burmese regime. She gave birth to me under the tree while it was raining. After three days of my birth, my mother escaped from the Burmese regime to the another place.

One day when I was 4 years, in about 1958 the Burmese had the operation in our area, and they captured all our family and took us to the near by town. Then, when I was 5 years my mother sent me to Mission School.

In my primary school life was controlled by Missionaries. I had to learn English, the Bible, Maths, Science, Ethics, and Geography. At that time, our school had discipline and the best exam results.

Since that time a dictatorship has ruled our country. In 1962, the dictatorship of U Ne Win took power and ruled the country as military state. From 1965, it made all the mission schools and private school to state school.

The next year, all the syllabi were changed. The students were not allowed to learn English except up to fifth standard. He changed all the subjects to Myanma Socialist policy. So all the subjects which we learn belongs to their policy which was Socialist.

All the teachers were trained again according to the policy. The Government changed the syllabus every year so that it would fit with their policy. All the methods were changed and the students who failed and remained in the same class got into trouble

Because the subjects were changed and the text books were also changed.

I was in High School and the system of the education was also changed about 1973-4. But now it is worse and worse many times since 1974, because during the students up rising, on August 8^th the military shot thousands and thousands of the students including Monks and the people. Then the military took over power closed all the schools from the University to Primary schools. This was from 1988-1990.  

Now the schools are not running normally. Some are open and some are closed. The Government does not supply any books or materials for the students. The quality of the books is low and they do not preserve for a long time. They do not last for long.

In the villages, the children can not go to school because the villages have been relocated by the military and their parents are used as forced labour without any payment, and have no time to work for their family. I met with one of the families recently who told me that their children can't go to school because even they have to work for their daily food themselves.

One of my friends wrote a book called ‘ Flowers from the Border’. In order to write a book she had spent two years interviewing children and their parents and went to many places to take photos and gain information. Now she has published it only in Burmese. One of her friends will translate into English. However, many children and students have lost their rights to study.

For Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) their lives are like the life of those who walk on the road and have lost their way. Most of the IDPs in Burma are Karen. Some of the older ones gather the children and teach them. In some places they are about 150 children with five teachers, in some places they are 65 students with 3 teachers. I had interviewed many of the teachers inside Burma. As teachers have no subsidy the children have no material supplies as they study. On the other hand they have to plant the paddy for their food. When the Burmese Military came their place they left everything and ran away from the soldiers and hid in the forest. This lasted from one month to six months or sometimes a year. And so they can not come back to their place.

When they escape from the Burmese military and hid in the forest they would sometimes step on land mines and be injured seriously or die on the spot. So it is too hard for the Karen students to get even elementary education because of Burmese Military Regimes.

For the students in refugee camps there is still a big question, which is what will happen after I passed tenth grade? At least for hundred students passed the ten grade per year in Mae La there are some school like F.S.P. which is Further Studies Programme. But it accepts only thirty students. They are also two teacher preparation courses for 60 students and Leadership School for forty students. So the other students have no chance or no school in which they can continue.

So after I read the paper on the survey by ZOA of the Karen education I learnt that among thousands and thousands of students there are only ten qualified teachers. So we formed an organization which is Future Planning for Karen Students and we selected some students go to be abroad to study B.A. And after they graduate they will come back and teach in High School.

We know that unless we educate our young students or young generation there will not be a great tomorrow. Our land, our properties, our homes, and things belonging to us were lost or destroyed by the Burmese Military Regimes. Only education can help us survive.

We know that our young students need a good education. There are many students who are smart and bright but they have no privileges. For myself, I really want to study. Even my friends encouraged me to go the abroad, I refused . Because I know that it is a time for me to serve God through my people. After that, no need to serve. So I try to study by correspondence and on the other hand to serve God. I want to stay with them and suffer with them, as we are the same Nation.

To produce young people there are many problems. They had sacrificed their lives in foreign lands because of the difference of the culture, food and lack of money. But they tried hard. So, on the whole, for us education is in exile. For our B.A. students it is another problem. We don’t have teachers regularly. And even if we have only 5 subjects it lasts for 3 years and more.

But we hope that God will provide our needs so that we will get regular teachers so this course will run regularly for our next generation. I thank God who has given us our friends from the abroad who show their love and concern and help us. May God bless them richly. I pray that God will deliver us from this exile so that we may free from the bondage, and have a good education and more.