A country’s stability and state of development depend on its human resource and how willing its citizens are to serve the nation. For developing its human resource, Myanmar has committed to providing quality education, and for this, much investment is required.

The 2015 National Education Law (Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law No. 38/2015 – Law Amending the National Education Law) prescribes setting aside 20 per cent of the total national expenditure on education, and efforts have been made to increase the annual education spending.

To successfully implement the National Education Strategic Plan (2016-2021), cooperation among students, parents, teachers, school managements, partners in education, and local and international partner organizations is vital.

Education plays a crucial role in efforts towards peace, security, stability, justice, human rights, equality, democracy, natural environmental conservation, and poverty alleviation.

Myanmar has adopted the National Education Strategic Plan to reach the goal of sustainable development, provide inclusive and equal educational opportunities, and promote lifelong learning.

The country is also working to realize its goal of ensuring all school-age children come to school and reducing the dropout rate.

The Ministry of Education has introduced the KG-12 system and a new curriculum suitable for the 21st century to do away with the practice of learning lessons by heart, to teach manners and civic responsibility, provide vocational education, physical education, and knowledge of art and culture, and to encourage innovative ideas.

Training has been conducted for teachers, new schools opened, learning opportunities extended, the number of ethnic languages in schools taught brought up to 54, non-formal educational activities provided in 81 townships, institutes of higher learning upgraded, more vocational and technical institutes opened, and a higher education system that encourages research and development and ways to make the world a better place established.

To survive and thrive in the world, it is important not only to remember facts and data but also to think, assess, and solve problems. It is important to wean students from the practice of rote learning and encourage meaningful learning and critical thinking.

At the same time, morals, ethics and civic duties must be taught in schools so that training is provided for acquiring good habits. Valuing and respecting time is a habit that helps inculcate discipline. We need to teach our youth to value and respect time. Everyone must be made aware that to value and respect time is to value our society and our neighbourhood.

We need to raise our future generations under an education system that teaches them how to think, and encourages them to accept and respect others.

With the help of quality education, we can instil in our children the belief that diversity is a part of nature.