Building, Renovating, and Equipping 20 Schools in a War Zone

This project aims to rebuild and renovate 20 schools in displacement camps in Myanmar, so that 2,500 young people, from primary to high school, can continue their education despite the civil war and forced displacement. It also supports teachers and provides school materials to ensure minimum learning conditions in an unstable humanitarian context.

What is the situation?

Since February 2021, Myanmar has been going through an unprecedented political, educational, economic, and social crisis, following the seizure of power by the Burmese army, which contested the results of the democratic parliamentary elections of November 2020. A civil war pits the regular army against armed groups drawn from the Burmese civilian population and the ethnic minorities. Kayah State has been a civil-war zone since October 2021; the state capital (Loikaw) is controlled by the military, while everything else is controlled by the Karenni army. As a result, more than 60% of the population (210,000 people) has been displaced within the state or into neighbouring states, across 450 sites.

With the state schools closed (their buildings unusable, their teachers having fled), young people from primary through to higher education are no longer in school. When they end up in displacement camps, places of learning have to be created from scratch so that young people can study once again.

Southeast Asia-Map

Why is support needed?

Faced with a humanitarian crisis on this scale, and given the number of Catholics in the region, the Church has a strong presence and has played an essential humanitarian role in the area for the past five years. On education, within this framework, the diocesan team:

Builds schools from basic materials in the displacement camps and provides school supplies
Offers compensation to teachers
Supports young people from primary to high school, then sends those who continue to higher education into vocational training in leadership or other technical skills (nursing, teaching), so they can return to serve their communities.

In this way the Church acts as a substitute for the state, committing itself on all these fronts in service of the common good and the population, and establishing infrastructure that would normally be the responsibility of civil authorities. All of this comes at a cost that the diocese cannot bear alone.

Families forced from their homes in Myanmar — Families forced from their homes

How will the 20 schools be built and renovated?

To allow young people to continue their schooling, 10 schools will be built in new displacement camps where young people do not yet have access to education and are currently dropping out of school.

Toilets will be built, and furniture and school materials will also be provided. A further 10 schools will be renovated, as after five years the emergency materials need replacing. Furniture will be replaced where necessary, and school materials provided.

What makes this project so effective?

2,500 young people can continue their schooling, even in learning spaces that are sometimes makeshift, but which have the fundamental merit of existing and offering educational continuity.
Pupils have furniture suited to the local context (tables and benches), allowing them to follow lessons in structured conditions that support attention and collective learning.
These spaces offer an environment broadly conducive to study, allowing young people to concentrate and progress despite material constraints.
Pupils have access to the basic school materials they need (books, notebooks, pens, and so on), enabling them to work individually, practise, and consolidate their learning.

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A study centre in Mu Traw, small village in the Myanmar jungle.

Burmese students, Myanmar — Burmese students

Who will benefit from this project?

The beneficiaries are 2,500 young people, from primary to high school, whose homes have been destroyed or who can no longer live in their villages because of the fighting. They have been forced to leave their homes and are now displaced, housed in camps. They live far from their homeland and their familiar surroundings, in a context of instability caused by the conflict.

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