31 March
Q : Excellency, we've learnt the launching of "Education Budget Support Programme of the European Union to Myanmar". It is a great honour and absolutely delightful for our people. Please tell us about the aims and objectives of this programme?
Ambassador Schmidt: This is the opening of a new chapter in our partnership with Myanmar. We have been supporting the peace process and democratic transition, but with this new support for education, we are really investing in the future of the youth in Myanmar. It is not a classic project. We are going to support Myanmar through its own government systems, directly supporting the Ministry of Education. This is not just a sign of EU solidarity, it is also a sign of full EU support and confidence in the policy-making of Myanmar government. It is a big day for us.
Q : Excellency, we've learnt that this is the 1st EU support for such kind of education budget support programme of 221 million Euros. It is a very big support and very significant. Please tell us about the budget allocation plans.
Ambassador Schmidt: The needs of Myanmar's education sector are long-term and the government is implementing a five to ten-year plan. Therefore, if we want to be serious partners we must also make a long-term commitment. We do not know how the politics will develop in the next two to three years, but for the next five years, the EU will be supporting Myanmar's education system.
We recognize the enormous needs that Myanmar is facing to catch up. In the years under the military government, education was not a priority. It is a new set of skills that Myanmar needs to quickly catch up in order to compete in the global economy. We have realized this is something that must happen now.
This is not something that we as outsiders are imposing, but there is determination within the government to reform the education sector. We are willing to put our support directly into the Ministry of Education budget instead of funding parallel projects. By working this way with the government, we are going to strengthen the systems of Myanmar's Ministry of Education down to the States, the Regions and townships. That is the significance of budget support; it really is a sign of trust that Myanmar can handle this.
Q : It's very significant. We've learnt that the EU will support direct financial transfer to the Ministry of Education, also technical assistance. Please elaborate about technical assistance with the implementation partners?
Ambassador Schmidt: The entire package is 221 million Euros, which is roughly 380 billion Myanmar Kyats over five years. It is a lot of money. The majority of the funding will go directly to the Ministry of Education budget to implement its National Education Strategic Plan. There will be additional technical assistance through the Asian Development Bank for training secondary education teachers, improving vocational education and training, and for capacity-building so that the government systems will be strengthened. We will also support the capacity to spend the money in a safe and accountable manner: the World Bank will support public financial management, strengthening the systems so that we know that the money will be well spent. Technical assistance will also be available for the Parliament, through International-IDEA. That is why it is a unique package rather than just a support that stands alone .
Q : There is also a plan for investment in improving quality education in ethnic areas. Could you explain about this plan?
Ambassador Schmidt: Myanmar is in a process of nation-building and peace. There is nothing more important than changing the mindsets of the next generation so that they see the benefits of peace for education and development. I think we would be making a mistake if we didn't also try to ensure that the way we distribute our support is equal and gives improved quality education to people all over Myanmar.
We feel very comfortable in working with both the Government and ethnic parties because it is in accordance with the government's policy. The government's education strategy recognizes the need to support and promote ethnic languages and cultures, and the role of the Shan, the Kachin, and other administrations in offering education.
For a Federal Union to function, students need to have the choice to move around. The ambition should therefore be for the systems to speak together and to eventually merge into a federal system. We are very careful to ensure that while supporting the central government and its capacity, we also make sure that equality is ensured, with the level of education in the ethnic areas simultaneously increased.
Q : It's a kind of way for contributing our peace process?
Ambassador Schmidt: Yes, it must be. I have met many Myanmar friends, interlocutors and Ministers who have told me that peace is about mindsets, as well. If you have had 70 years of a war, the risk is that in schools you are taught that the problem lies in others. You get text books where you have your history but you don't have the history of your competitors or the other ethnic groups. If that continues, of course you're looking at another 70 years of war.
When I meet young people, I see they want peace and opportunities, not just in their own state but in the country as a whole. They want, now that Myanmar is open to the world, to travel the world. Of course, Europe is also extending scholarships so that the students from Myanmar can benefit from opportunities to study in the region and Europe. Yes, it is also a peace project. Education is a brilliant vehicle for making people understand each other and live together.
Q : Education is vital for human resource development, poverty alleviation and the peace process. We also learnt that there is a technical and vocational education training, so is this all part of the educational programmes?
Ambassador Schmidt: When Myanmar started opening up and receiving support from the outside, a lot of Myanmar’s development partners focused on primary education, which is very important. Primary education is the basis. But very few addressed secondary education and vocational training. What we have seen from the figures is that many students are dropping out.
Then there’s the question of quality. According to the Ministry of Education, education is largely focusing on skills that are not relevant for the labour market. After generations of low-quality education, many young people do not have the skills for getting a job today. You cannot send these people back through primary education and start over again. Vocational training is a way to catch that generation and immediately give these people skills and opportunities to enter the labour market.
In my very first meeting with the State Counsellor after I arrived here a year and a half ago I asked her ‘How can Europe help?’, and her first reply was ‘Education’. I then asked "What kind of education?" and she said vocational training. It satisfies me greatly that this is exactly what we are going to do. To catch up with that generation that needs support now.
Q : This EU support project is very huge and I assume there will be a lot of meetings and discussions so how are you going to make this big deal happen?
Ambassador Schmidt: It is a significant amount and I think Myanmar will catch up in ten years if we can make this work efficiently. Ten years from now, Myanmar will not be needing EU’s support for this. But this new civilian government is not yet able to raise sufficient revenues from taxes. Myanmar has one of the lowest tax percentages in the world. Only 11 per cent of national wealth is being collected in taxes. Of course, this is because a lot of revenue from natural resources are going into illicit trade. Whether it’s jade or timber, it’s not being collected where it should be collected to fund education, social services, hospitals, all these things. This is where the authorities will also have to invest to make sure that those revenues are collected so that Myanmar in 10 years from now will not need external support and will have a system to fund its own education services.
But this country capacities need a boost right now, and over the next five years we hope to help with that boost. I’m sure the country will continue to grow and become independent of our support.
Q : Could you tell us what are the conditions to strengthen those commitments?
Ambassador Schmidt: The disbursements are made against meeting specific targets that Myanmar has set itself in its sector policy for education. Of course, it is not a blank cheque.
For instance, when the new textbooks the ministry has planned are delivered, we pay the next installment. When we see that teachers are being trained as planned we can make the next disbursement. It is a form of cooperation that rewards results. I also want to emphasize that this is not the European Union paying for everything. One of the important conditions is that Myanmar’s own commitment is demonstrated by increasing the education budget. The government has increased the allocation to education by 22 percent from one year to the other. 22 per cent increase is a lot, but of course starting from a very low base. We will only be supporting if we see the government itself is putting more money into education. These are some of the steps that will show that the reforms that the government has decided are advancing.
Q : We would also like to know the depth of changes and pace of reforms you have noticed during your term in Myanmar.
Ambassador Schmidt: Imagine somebody who has to run 400 meters full speed around the stadium. They are running very fast, winning the race, and as they arrive they are asked to run another one . I think this is what Myanmar has gone through in the past 5-10 years. Very fast-paced reforms. It is normal that you reach a level where you say (sighs), ‘Now we have to absorb the reforms.’ It is the next generation and there needs to be a change in the mindset. The young people have to come in with their new openness to transparency, rule of law and fighting corruption.
Yes, the international community has noted that the pace of the reforms has stagnated somewhat. And also, on certain areas such as media freedom and certainly the crisis in Rakhine State, the country has taken a step back. As your friends, we speak up when we see that, not because we want you to lose hope but because we want you to keep going. Don’t lose sight of the ambition you set when you voted in 2015, of peace and democracy for everyone.
Yes, sometimes you lose your breath and you have to regain your strength to continue onto the next round. Our engagement with Myanmar is longer because we know that this transition is an ambition you have set as a country and that it will take more than just a couple of years to reach your objectives. — GNLM
