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| ADB's newly opened Myanmar office |
Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of
Australia are providing $570,000 in technical assistance to strengthen planning
and reforms in post-primary education in Myanmar, including secondary
education, technical and vocational education and training, and higher
education, a vital component to ensuring the country is prepared for
opportunities created by ongoing democratic and financial reforms.
ADB will administer the technical assistance, which includes
$200,000 from ADB and $370,000 equivalent in co-financing from the Government
of Australia.
“As Myanmar embarks on dramatic socioeconomic
transformations, education must play a critical role in promoting inclusive
growth and poverty reduction,” said Christopher Spohr, a Senior Education
Economist with the ADB’s Southeast Asia Department. “This will help Myanmar
meet rapidly evolving labor market needs, rebalance and equip the economy to
modernize and move into higher value-added sectors, and successfully enter
regional and global markets.”
The assistance comes as part of harmonized development
partner support to the Comprehensive Education Sector Review (CESR) launched by
Government of Myanmar today. As the first rigorous and comprehensive assessment
of the education sector in two decades, the CESR will be fundamentally
important in pinpointing sector challenges and providing an evidential basis
for reforms, defining clear priorities and targets, and developing concrete and
sequenced action plans.
Already, challenges of management, equitable access, and
quality and relevance of curricula have emerged as issues to be addressed. A
dearth of data and information also poses a substantial obstacle to government
efforts to strengthen the education sector.
ADB’s technical assistance will support post-primary
education subsector analysis, learning from relevant regional experiences, and
strengthened analytical and planning capacities.
With its focus on post-primary education subsectors, the
technical assistance will complement and closely align with support to the CESR
provided by other development partners, which will largely center on primary,
pre-primary, and non-formal education.
The Ministry of Education will lead the CESR and coordinate
inputs by other agencies, as well as an array of development partners. The CESR
will culminate in the formulation and adoption of a costed education sector
plan in 2014, which will provide a unified framework for investments by the
government and development partners.