New school construction guidelines are aimed at making education more inclusive and accessible while also ensuring that schools can serve their communities as safe and secure shelters during natural disasters.

In 2008, Cyclone Nargis destroyed 50 percent of the government schools in the Ayeyarwady Delta; two years later, another cyclone damaged more than 350 schools in Rakhine State.

Myanmar is prone to natural disasters such as cyclones, floods and earthquakes, and when they occur, poorly built schools – some of which are made from bamboo – are easily damaged.

As part of an ambitious project to reform Myanmar’s education system, the Ministry of Education is planning to build 30,000 schools over the coming decade. With additional support from the Ministry of Construction, a school construction sub-working group has developed guidelines for safe, child-friendly and sustainable school buildings.

Led by the Ministry of Education, the group is co-chaired by Switzerland and World Vision; several NGOs and INGOs are also involved, as is the United Nations children’s agency, UNICEF.

The guidelines were published in October and will be implemented from January 2019. Some schools have already been built according to the guidelines, with the help of international partners.

To provide an environment conducive to learning, the 100-page booklet gives information on different aspects of school construction, ranging from sanitation facilities to site selection criteria, such as road access and connections to water, sewage and electricity.

It also gives guidance on locations for schools to minimise risks from natural disasters, such as not building close to steep slopes where landslides might occur during earthquakes.

There are also guidelines aimed at minimising earthquake damage based on a building’s dimensions. “It is recommended for the length of the building not to exceed three times the width since buildings with one of their overall sizes much smaller or larger than the other two, do not perform well during earthquakes,” the guidelines say.

To promote an inclusive environment for everybody, the schools will be built to accommodate children with disabilities.

Better learning environment

When U Nay Zaw, 25, first became a teacher, he worked at a government school in Mon State’s Mudon Township.

“The classroom was one big hall, divided only by curtains for the different grades. It was very noisy, so it was difficult to concentrate,” Nay Zaw recalled. The room was stifling in hot weather and running water was only available for a few hours a day. “The kids had to carry their own water if they wanted to use the toilet,” he told Frontier.

Such conditions are not unusual in Myanmar, where students often endure overcrowded classrooms and either non-existent or inadequate sanitation facilities, which are not well maintained or cleaned and can pose a health risk. These problems are particularly common at schools in remote areas, and in such an environment it is difficult for students to concentrate and study.

For the past two years, Nay Zaw has been teaching at the Pa Yaw He School in Mon’s Thanbyuzayat Township. The school was built in 2015 by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, the European Union and Norwegian Refugee Council and was one of the first to follow the safe and child-friendly construction guidelines.

Nay Zaw said residents know that the school is the only safe building in the community to which they can seek refuge, and also the only one with a lightning conductor.

“They would seek shelter here in case of a natural disaster,” he said.

But it’s not only its safety which makes it a good learning environment. On a hill overlooking a forest, the reinforced concrete building houses classes for children from kindergarten to Grade 5. The classrooms are spacious and well lit, and ventilated by cool breezes through the open doors and windows.

“I like teaching here much better,” said Nay Zaw. “We have individual classrooms which are big; there are clean bathrooms with water 24 hours a day, and we also have a room for the teachers – that didn’t exist in my previous school.”
Published in October, the construction guidelines aim to ensure that schools are safe, child-friendly and accessible.

UNICEF education officer U Thet Naing agrees on the importance of quality infrastructure to improve access to education – by enabling students with disabilities to attend classes, for example.

“But good infrastructure alone doesn’t make the education good,” he told Frontier.

Thet Naing criticised the emphasis on rote-learning in Myanmar’s teacher-centred education system, in which critical thinking and student participation are not encouraged.

“To improve our education,” he said, “we also need to improve the mindset and competency skills of the teachers by modifying the curriculum and assessment system.”