What is the initiative and where is it implemented (city or country, for example)?
Community Learning Centres (CLCs) were introduced in Myanmar to ensure continuous learning and community development for out-of-school populations, with the concept ‘By them, With them, For them’ (Myanmar Education Consortium, 2013, p. 6). With support from UNDP and UNESCO, a small-scale pilot project enabled 31 Community Learning Centres to be set up to provide non-formal education and community development services in rural areas where access to education was low. Between 1995 and 2012, Myanmar set up over 3,000 CLCs.
How was the initiative established? How was it implemented?
The Community Learning Centre (CLC) concept was introduced in Myanmar in 1994 as a component of UNDP’s Human Development Initiative programme. The initial purpose of the CLCs was to provide access to basic education for all and increase the quality of the learning process in formal and non-formal education. Subsequently, the initiative was expanded to cover lifelong learning, and continuing education schemes were developed for those who had already achieved basic literacy. The aim was to develop initial skills further and train the population in activities that would foster income generation and economic rehabilitation. Lifelong learning was defined as covering all types of education and learning outside formal opportunities, thus targeting dropout and out-of-school youth, illiterate adults and other underprivileged groups and individuals (Ai Tam Pham Le, 2018).
The first national workshop on developing continuing education in Myanmar was organized in 1999 with the aim of developing materials and strategies for establishing and managing community learning participation.
Community learning activities were implemented in five areas:
- literacy and post-literacy programmes;
- development of community information and resource services;
- individual interests;
- capacity building;
- promotion of life-experience and skill-/ income-generating groups (Thaung Tut, 1999, cited in Ai Tam Pham Le, 2018).
Which stakeholders are involved in the design and/or implementation of the initiative? Which sectors do they represent?
Community Learning Centres operate under the direction of Myanmar Literacy Resource Centre (MLRC) management, which uses its capacity to support a local education unit. The management committee usually comprises members of the local population; with a technical team’s support, they are responsible for organizing learning activities.
The local community plays an essential role in identifying the needs and fields of interest to be addressed by continuing education and skills training. Further, ownership of the centres’ capacities promotes active citizenship, leading to improvement in quality of life and contributing to poverty alleviation (MOE, 2014).
What are the impacts of the initiative in terms of facilitating lifelong learning? Whom does it benefit and how?
Though studies report inconsistencies in managing Myanmar CLCs, the Myanmar Literacy Resource Centre is working to disseminate initiatives and replicate successful practices across the country.
Community Learning Centres offer LLL education opportunities and skills training in health and agriculture and organize musical and cultural events appreciated by the population. In many cases, three or four villages share a mobile library, providing opportunities to read books and periodicals (Middelborg, 2002).
In 2014, the Ministry of Education called for needs-assessment studies in Community Learning Centres in regions and states ‘to provide relevant technical support and build capacities as necessary so that they can, in turn, contribute to the community development and poverty reduction in the country’ (MoE, 2014, p. 28). However, due to political instability, it has proved problematic to maintain educational goals.
Non-formal education has been the priority of the new education framework (2010–2015), aiming to provide additional education opportunities for out-of-school children and adults. In 2019, Myanmar launched its Alternative Education Subsector [Policy] Framework in line with the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP) and the National Education Strategic Plan (2016–2021) to guide the design and implementation of alternative education initiatives for out-of-school children (UNICEF Myanmar, 2019).
References
MoE (Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Ministry of Education), 2014. National EFA Review Report. [Online] Available at: https://themimu.info/sites/themimu.info/files/documents/Report_Myanmar_Education_for_All_2015_National_Review_UNESCO_2015.pdf [Accessed 27 November 2020].
Ai Tam Pham Le, 2018. The contributions of community learning centres (CLCs) to personal and community development in Myanmar. International Review of Education, 64(2), pp. 607–631. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11159-018-9721-2 [Accessed 23 July 2021].
Middelborg, J., 2002. Myanmar: The Community Learning Centre experience. Bangkok: UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education. Available at: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000125290?posInSet=5&queryId=d56c9782-4070-45b6-af99-4d5e2ad5897d [Accessed 23 July 2021].
Myanmar Education Consortium, 2013. Research study on Community Learning Centres in Myanmar. [Online] Available at: https://mecmigration.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/clc-report_final-31-03-14.pdf [Accessed 27 November 2020].
UNICEF Myanmar, 2019. Myanmar launches its first-ever Alternative Education Framework. [Online] Available at: www.unicef.org/myanmar/press-releases/myanmar-launches-its-first-ever-alternative-education-framework [Accessed 27 November 2020].