A class of their own: From Obama to Hague, foreign dignitaries are flocking to Myanmar. But as the country grapples with democratic change, its education system risks holding back the next generation

Josh Noble:

Nayaka sat wrapped in a blanket and an extra set of monk's robes, shivering in his Swiss hotel room. He pulled three hats on to his shaved head, and wound a thick woollen scarf around his face. The temperature outside was probably in the mid-teens - after all, it was only September. Yet it was the coldest he had ever been.

In spite of the late hour, there was no way he was going to bed. On the other side of the world, tens of thousands of his countrymen had taken to the streets in what many people thought was the start of a revolution, and an end to Myanmar's military dictatorship. Alongside the crowds of students marched thousands of his fellow Buddhist monks, decked out in their burnt orange robes and red velvet sandals. But U Nayaka would watch it all unfold on the TV news. It was perhaps fitting. U Nayaka ("U" is a Burmese honorific) has spent the past 20 years trying to avoid politics. Instead he has devoted himself to being the headmaster of one of the country's largest schools, Phaung Daw Oo, where he and his brother help to educate more than 6,000 impoverished children every day. (His visit to Switzerland in late 2007 was for an international education conference.) Yet despite his distaste for politics, U Nayaka - and many others like him - are now key players in the country's move towards democracy.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 12, 2012 3:36 AM
Subscribe to this site via RSS/Atom: Newsletter signup | Send us your ideas