The Mon National Education Seminar will be held in the second week of December, for the purpose of receiving advice from experts and the public as well as possibly drafting and amending Mon national education policies, according to the Mon National Education Committee (MNEC).
MNEC will lead the seminar which will take place over two days, according to a MNEC official in an interview with Mon News Agency.
“At the seminar for reforming the Mon national education policy, we will listen to the advice of Mon people and scholars, and then discuss their recommendations,” said Mi Hlaing Non, project coordinator of MNEC.
Starting on November 1, the MNEC teams will visit the Mon community, meet the Mon people and present them with educational policies drafted by international organizations, UN departments, ethnic groups, and the National Network for Education Reform (NNER). Additionally, they will receive the draft from Rehmonnyadesa [Monland].
“We currently have the educational policy that we drew up. We will present this draft to the Mon people. We will gather their advice, write reports and present the final report at the seminar to discuss,” said Min Aung Zaya, MNEC’s Curriculum and Research Coordinator.
Min Aung Zaya added that the seminar will also cover topics such as requesting the government’s reorganization of the Mon national education system led by MNEC, as well as requesting that the government provide an educational budget and long term sustainability for MNEC.
In order to gather the voices of Mon people, the MNEC will have two teams meeting with the public. The areas that the teams will be visiting include Bago, Yangon and Mandalay regions as well as Mon State and Karen State.
Currently, there are about 800 Mon teachers and about 30,000 students studying at Mon national schools. The number of Mon national schools totals 132, while there are 88 state schools that are integrated with Mon national schools.
