Vocational training schools to be opened in three Arakan State townships

01 Feb 2023

DMG Newsroom
1 February 2023, Sittwe

Training schools will be opened for students in Arakan State who have completed secondary education, allowing them to pick a subject of their choice from among industrial technology, agriculture and livestock skills.

The training schools will be opened in Sittwe, Thandwe and Ann townships, according to the junta-controlled Myanmar Alinn daily.

Arrangements are being made to open vocational training schools for students who do not want to continue their standard education after passing Grade 9, beginning in the 2023-24 academic year, an official from the Arakan State education officer’s office confirmed.

Students will be taught industrial technology for six years, agricultural skills for three years and livestock skills for three years as well. If they excel at their exams, they will have the opportunity to continue their education at colleges and universities, undertaking studies related to the subjects they have chosen.

“As a teacher, I have to say that the plan to open vocational training schools is a mix of good and bad,” said Daw Ni Ni Win, a senior assistant teacher in Sittwe. “The bad thing is that the children are no longer willing to study hard to attend high school, and I am worried that they will want to go to that vocational school. The good thing is that it will help the long-term careers of children who do not excel academically.”

Maung Myat Kyaw Min, a high school student in Sittwe, said the bet measure of the initiative’s success would be in outcomes after students leave the vocational schools.

“What this vocational training school will teach students depends on whether they get a job after the course. My brother has graduated, but he still hasn’t found a job. If the students are connected with jobs after attending the vocational training schools, it can help the students,” said Maung Myat Kyaw Min, a high school student in Sittwe.

Arrangements are being made at the direction of junta boss Min Aung Hlaing to allow students who have completed secondary education to learn and train in the industrial, agricultural and livestock sciences, according to the junta-controlled Myanmar Alinn.