By LAWI WENG & RAI MARAOH – As a chance for Mon children to study Mon education, Mon summer schools opened the first week of March throughout Mon State, until May, according to the Mon Literature and Culture Committee (MLCC).
Dr. Min Soe Lin, a senior member of the MLCC, which is based in Moulmein, the capital of Mon State, said, “We opened schools in about seven townships now.”
The curriculum includes Mon language reading and writing, which is intended to promote a better understanding and ability in Mon, since most students learn at Burmese military schools and therefore read and write in only Burmese.
“Last year, we had about 65,000 students in total from the seven townships. This does not include Apoung Township and Kawpain village in Kaw-kareik Township,” he said.
“Teaching space is a big problem of ours. We have to teach children under bayan trees and in Mon Buddhist monasteries,” said Min Soe Lin.
The Burmese government does not allow the teaching of a Mon curriculum at the government schools.
Min Soe Lin explained, “They [the government] do not give us our own schools. The money to build schools comes from our Mon people. But, we do not own them [the schools].”
Members of the All Mon Regions Democracy Party (AMDP) who won seats during the nationwide elections in November have requested that the new government in Naypyidaw allows Mon children to learn Mon at the government schools.
However, the new government rejected the proposal by saying the new government will allow Mon to be taught after normal government school hours and will provide assistance to teach it.
There are around three million Mon people living in the southern part of Burma who do not have a chance to learn their own language freely. Children, therefore, learn the Burmese language in schools, without being taught their own mother language.
Amid worries that the Mon people and culture will disappear, Mon Buddhist monks founded a summer school program in 1941 in Mon State, and it has been run by the MLCC ever since.
Mon language descended from ancient Indian Brahmin script. Mon is one of the oldest and most influential languages in the region, its alphabet forming the foundation for Burmese, Thai, Khmer and Laotian scripts.
Traditionally, the Mon community both within Burma and abroad has met most of the needs of the schools, with the aid of some additional funding provided by NGOs based inside Burma.
The schools operate in almost every township in Mon State, as well as in some villages in Pegu District and Karen State.
