How Sponsorship Protects Education in Myanmar: A 2018–2025 Impact Study

Between 2018 and 2025, Myanmar endured a pandemic, a military coup, and economic collapse. This impact study of around 2,000 sponsored students reveals how child sponsorship kept young people in education, and on the path to employment, through one of the world’s most fragile crises.

Since 2020, Myanmar has faced overlapping crises that have reshaped its society and devastated its education system. For the students supported by Children of the Mekong, sponsorship has been far more than financial aid — it has been a lifeline of stability, continuity, and hope. This study analyses how sponsorship has shaped students’ educational and professional pathways across eight turbulent years, and what its measurable impact has been.

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Why is Myanmar in crisis?

Since 2020, Myanmar has been hit by a series of overlapping crises that have profoundly reshaped both society and education. The COVID-19 pandemic was followed by the military coup of February 2021, triggering a prolonged period of political instability, armed conflict, and economic decline.

The consequences have been severe:

Nearly 4 million internally displaced people
Rising poverty and inflation affecting daily survival
The closure of factories and the collapse of foreign investment
The introduction of military conscription in 2024, deepening fear and driving migration

Education has been one of the hardest-hit areas. Schools remained closed for long periods, and only around 20% of students returned once they reopened. Higher education has collapsed too: from over 1 million students before the crisis to around 113,000 in 2023–2024. Today, the education system is fragmented between state, private, and informal pathways — a mirror of the country’s wider instability.

How was this impact study carried out?

This study is based on approximately 2,000 sponsored students aged 18 to 25, supported through Children of the Mekong programmes in Myanmar. It combines quantitative and qualitative methods to capture both measurable outcomes and real, lived experiences.

The quantitative data was drawn from our Salesforce internal database, historical programme records, local coordinator reports, and cohort tracking across 2018–2025. Our analytical approach compared student outcomes before and after the major crises — COVID-19, the 2021 coup, and the 2023 education reform — examining dropout and completion rates as well as transitions into employment.

These figures were enriched by qualitative insights: student testimonies, family feedback, and the field observations of our programme coordinators. Together, these sources allow a comprehensive understanding of both educational trajectories and human impact.

What does sponsorship actually change?

In Myanmar, dropping out of school is driven primarily by economic hardship and insecurity. Sponsorship therefore plays a decisive role in enabling students to stay in education.

Among the 1,722 sponsored students analysed in detail:

43.6% completed their studies and graduated
45.6% left for economic reasons
7.8% left due to conflict or war-related circumstances
3% were lost to displacement or loss of contact

Sponsorship supports students by covering the essential costs of education — fees, transport, and materials — reducing the pressure to enter the labour market prematurely, and enabling continuity even through prolonged school closures.

Its impact reaches beyond the classroom and into working life. Around two-thirds of graduates find a job shortly after finishing their studies, mainly in education, healthcare, hospitality, administration, and the technical trades — though insecurity is driving a growing trend of migration abroad. And beyond these measurable outcomes, sponsorship provides something harder to quantify: stability, confidence, and emotional reassurance in a context of prolonged uncertainty.

Myanmar sponsorship

What are the key findings?

The study points to three central conclusions.

1. Sponsorship as educational protection. In a context where economic pressure is the leading cause of dropout, sponsorship acts as a stabilising force that keeps young people in education when they would otherwise be pulled out.

2. A clear, measurable impact. Sponsored students show higher rates of educational completion, a strong transition into employment, and greater continuity despite systemic disruption.

3. A holistic impact beyond education. Sponsorship delivers far more than financial support. It combines educational continuity, emotional and psychological stability, access to opportunity and autonomy, and long-term resilience and confidence.

Myanmar sponsorship

What does this mean for the future?

Sponsorship in Myanmar is not simply a support mechanism. It is a long-term investment in stability, dignity, and opportunity for young people navigating one of the most fragile contexts in the world. Even as crises continue to unfold, sponsored students are completing their education, finding work, and building futures — proof that consistent, committed support can hold firm even when everything around it is breaking down.

Read the full impact study

Myanmar Sponsorship

How can you support a student in Myanmar?

Behind every statistic in this study is a young person determined to learn despite extraordinary odds. Your sponsorship helps keep them in education — covering the costs that crisis would otherwise make impossible, and offering the stability to keep going.

With your sponsorship, you will receive regular news of your sponsored child’s progress, and play a direct part in protecting their education and their future.

Sponsor a child in Myanmar