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Among the countries in which ChildFund Australia manages and implements programs, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s education has been the most severe in Myanmar.

Schools have been closed for almost a year, since the first cases of COVID-19 were reported in the country in March 2020. Restrictions were eased briefly at the end of July 2020, allowing students to return to school, but the respite was short-lived. The number of COVID-19 cases began to rise again towards the end of August, prompting the Myanmar government to return to restrictions on public spaces and gatherings.

“The nationwide closure of schools is impacting millions of students,” ChildFund Myanmar National Education Coordinator, PoPo Thaung Win, says.

The prolonged shutdown, says ChildFund Myanmar’s Country Director Win May, will have the greatest impact on Myanmar’s most vulnerable children, such as children living in poverty, children living with disability, girls, and those living in remote and rural areas.

“They face a great risk of dropping out and never returning to school,” Win May says.

Once schools reopen, many children in the disadvantaged communities in which ChildFund works are at risk of entering the workforce, becoming full-time labourers, or staying at home to take care of younger siblings and household chores, to help their families.

Another concern, says Win May, is the health and wellbeing of children stuck at home with nowhere to go. “Many children are becoming isolated because of the lack of social connection,” she says.

Children also face higher protection risks while schools are closed because they can no longer access essential school equipment and services such as water, sanitation and hygiene facilities, health services, protection referrals for gender-based violence and abuse, and specialised services for children with disabilities.

Rethinking education

Myanmar has had to rapidly adapt to the changing situations posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

With support from UNESCO, the Ministry of Education has developed a COVID-19 response and recovery plan to help children to continue learning during and after the pandemic. The plan looks at how schools can eventually reopen safely, and how the country’s education system can be strengthened to cope with future emergencies.

A digital library with hundreds of storybooks is helping children from an ethnic minority group in Laos stay engaged in school and learn to read and write in their national language.

Young primary school students like eight-year-old Ari (pictured above) in a remote village in Huaphanh Province, in northeast Laos, have long faced challenges reading and writing Lao, a second language for many of them, because of the lack of teaching and learning resources at their school.

Long-time primary school teacher Toui says the majority of students at his school communicate with one another in their ethnic language rather than Lao. Over the past 32 years as a teacher, he has seen children of this ethnic minority group progress “very slowly” when it comes to reading, writing and speaking Laos’ national language.

Children who are literate in Lao transition easier to mainstream education and have greater job opportunities in the future. It is also easier for them to access government services and ensure their rights are not violated.

Toui says the introduction of the digital library, introduced by ChildFund in Laos and Library For All, has inspired students to learn Lao, and increased their confidence.

“Since the digital library was implemented two years in our school, students have been more motivated to come to school, are interested in reading, and have developed their Lao reading and speaking skills,” Toui says.

“Many children in this area are shy. They don’t often share their opinions and ideas. Since the digital library was introduce, the children have improved their communication skills, and they question more.”

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