Project Report
| Feb 10, 2022
New challenges in Myanmar
By Celia Russell | Trustee, Tekkatho Foundation
![MyLibrary - a complete school library plus Wi-Fi]()
MyLibrary - a complete school library plus Wi-Fi
It has been a year since the Myanmar military staged an attempted coup and jailed the country's elected leaders. The country remains in turmoil, with the education, health and finance systems near collapse. The International Rescue Committee estimate that more than 14 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2022 and 300,000 people have been displaced from their homes because of the coup.
Teachers are torn between not wanting to work in government schools but still wanting to deliver an education to the children in their communities. There is no clear answer, everyone is making their own decisions. We have stopped our work with universities for now. We are carrying on our work in schools and setting up new MyLibraries in non-state schools in the border regions like Kayin, Kachin and Rakhine State, working with the Norwegian Refugee Council and Give A Hand.
The effects of the coup are both long reaching and devastating to the ordinary people of Myanmar. We will continue to help the teachers of the next generation the best we can and are very grateful to you for your continued generosity.
The photo, taken in January, shows children learning with MyLibrary. The MyLibrary digital library is the white disc on the tabletop. Inside the library are thousands of resources designed to support school children in Myanmar, all adapted to work in places with no internet connection, like this school in Magway.
Thank you for supporting young people in Myanmar through the last year.
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Oct 14, 2021
"Education is the thing no one can steal from us."
By Celia Russell | Trustee, Tekkatho Foundation
![MyLibrary - a complete school library plus Wi-Fi]()
MyLibrary - a complete school library plus Wi-Fi
The turmoil in Myanmar following the military coup on 1 Feb has led to around 220,000 people being displaced from their homes. Around 75,000 of these new refugees are children. We have been working with the Norwegian Refugee Council to improve educational opportunities for young people in Rakhine State in western Myanmar. Our MyLibraries are self-contained, portable digital libraries and the Norwegian Refugee Council are taking five ‘on the road’ to villages and refugee camps around the main town of Sittwe.
Project manager May Thet says,
“The MyLibrary project in Rakhine is good because the political situation is a little calmer there. Although the Norwegian Refugee Council cannot operate completely as they wish, right now they can go to the field and show smaller groups how to use the MyLibrary digital library.
At first, the Norwegian Refugee Council were planning to use MyLibrary for schools, but now they are using MyLibrary to give young adults vocational training and distribute Covid-19 prevention resources in the villages and camps. They have made their own educational videos in Rakhine language and Myanmar language and uploaded into MyLibrary. We hope to re-share these locally made resources across other MyLibraries in Myanmar.”
All of us at the Tekkatho Foundation would like to say thank you so much for your continued support in difficult times. www.tekkatho.foundation
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Jun 16, 2021
"There are soldiers instead of teachers"
By Celia Russell | Trustee, Tekkatho Foundation
![A student holds a MyLibrary digital library.]()
A student holds a MyLibrary digital library.
Government education in Myanmar is in freefall, with the military coup dashing hopes of schools re-opening and children returning to the classroom.
Primary and secondary schools reopened in June, the start of the new academic year. But many parents have not enrolled their children this year. Most teachers at government schools have stayed away too. A father of a child in Grade 1 told us: “It is difficult for me to decide not to enrol my son. Yet, I chose the right thing for my son's safety. How can I let him study in this chaotic situation? Hope we can get the better education soon." Another parent told us: “Soldiers are guarding the schools and looking after the kids. Education is important whether it is government school or not, but there are soldiers instead of teachers, and we see soldiers let children play with their weapons. It is not suitable.”
Meanwhile the number of people displaced by coup violence is growing, with an estimated 53,000 new refugees, around half school-aged kids. Our work continues with a refugee agency in border camps in Kachin and Shan. We are expanding educational provision in the camps, creating virtual classrooms to deliver the new curriculum materials, so that children displaced by the military coup don’t lose their education as well as their homes. This would not be possible without your continued support - Thank you.
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