Section 3 | RULES OF THE GAME
3.3
Educational Institutions
Basic literacy and numeracy are prerequisites to digital literacy, but five decades of
underinvestment in the education sector have resulted in significant backsliding since
the mid-twentieth century. According to the 2014 census, 16 percent of adults over age 25
had no formal education and 45 percent had only completed primary school; corresponding
figures for rural adult women are 19 percent and 52 percent.204 And while the 2014 census
recorded high self-reported literacy rates for those over age 15 (93 percent for men and 87
percent for women), rates for rural areas and ethnic minorities vary greatly. For example,
overall in Shan State, 52 percent of rural women are literate, but in the Wa Autonomous
Self-Administered Division (ASAD) within Shan State, only 16 percent of rural women are
functionally literate—a predominantly rural, isolated, and conflict-affected area.205 Data
on wildly divergent local literacy rates, ranging from 95 percent among female residents
in Yangon region to a low of 6 percent among female residents of certain townships within
the Wa ASAD,206 underscore the variation in access to and quality of education throughout
Myanmar. As described in section 3.1 above, the MoE is addressing these challenges with
considerable international support for both strategic plans and grassroots activities (see
map of fifty-five education projects in 2016 in Annex E).
The formal education system in Myanmar is based on a three-tier system: five years of
primary school education, four years of lower secondary education, and two years of upper
secondary education (plans to include a twelfth year are underway). Of the nearly 9 million
students who attend school, less than 300,000 make it to grade eleven, of whom only 30
percent pass the matriculation exams.207 There are marked differences by gender as well
IREX INSIGHT
Existing educational reform
initiatives hold great promise to
address access and skills deficits
as rural/urban residence, particularly in upper secondary school (see figure 14 below).208
for those at the bottom of the
Those who do graduate from upper secondary school may then further their education at a
pyramid due to strong political
university or a technical school, including any of twenty-six computer science colleges.
will and the diversity of local and
Figure 14: Composition of Basic Education Students, by Sex and Grade
(academic 2010–2011)
international supporters.
Union
G11
Male
Female
G10
G9
G8
G7
G6
G5
G4
G3
G2
G1
8%
8
7%
7
6%
6
5%
5
4%
4
3%
3
Source: Asian Development Bank
Male
2%
2
1%
1
0%
0
1%
2%
3%
4%
5%
6%
7%
8%
Urban
G11 11G
Female
Ministry of Immigration and Population, The 2014 Myanmar Population and Housing Census: The Union
G10 01G
Report.
205
G9 Myanmar
9G
Ministry of Immigration and Population, The 2014
Population and Housing Census: The Shan
State Report, Census Report Volume 3-M (Naypyidaw:
of the Union of Myanmar, May 2015).
G8 Republic
8G
206
Ibid.
G7 7G
207
Myanmar Ministry of Education, National Education Strategic Plan 2016–2021, 100.
G
208
ADB, Phase I: Rapid Assessment: Technical AnnexG6on6the
Secondary Education Subsector.
204
G5 5G
G4 4G
G3 3G
G2 2G
G1 1G
Ending the Gender Digital Divide in Myanmar: A Problem-Driven Political Economy Assessment
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