One of the challenges women have faced is how much help to expect from other women. There is a trend of women reaching out to build new networks, organizations and systems for women to assist each other. Women who are supported and connected with other women to work towards a common goal and women who have the opportunity to develop confidence and skills in a nurturing environment, with role models to look up to.
Role Model Role models play an important part in providing incentives and space for women to take on leadership positions. Some women are directly influenced by their mothers, whom they saw as strong role models. Women must be supported to see themselves as potential role models, and to have the tools and techniques necessary to actively and practically encourage other women. At the same time, support needs to be given to women to help them overcome material as well as structural barriers to empowerment and leadership. Balancing home and work life responsibilities One of the key challenges face by women in leadership roles was the struggle to balance the gender responsibilities of homecare against responsibilities outside of the home, and the restrictions and expectations from family members and by themselves. Some women leaders spoke frequently about the challenges of balancing home and work life responsibilities. The importance of supporting future women leaders Women need to find safe supportive spaces to grow and gain the confidence to take on roles which break down stereotypes. A desire to support young women and see more active participation by women are important to grow all together. Some women are lacking in experience, knowledge, confidence and resources so they need to help young aspiring women leaders in an effective way. Women should give time and chances to develop and support each other.
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Basic education in Myanmar currently consists of five years of primary education (Kindergarten to Grade 4), four years of lower secondary education, and two years of upper secondary education. There are currently 47.363 basic education schools in Myanmar reaching approximately 9.26 million students (Ministry of Education, 2012). For the 2015-2016, the total number of schools in the basic education system was 47.363 the total number of basic education teachers was 340.955 and the number of basic education students was 9.257.970. Myanmar has 158 higher education institutions such as colleges, degree colleges, and universities (MOE, 2012).
Girls are consistently more likely than boys to achieve better results in the Basic Education High School Examination, and they are also more likely to proceed to higher education in 2012. For example, 60.1% of all higher education students were female (MOE, 2012). The reason for this situation is that girls remain in school and are more likely to go on to higher education because they want to become teachers as teaching being traditionally regarded as a female occupation in Myanmar (UNESCO, 2011). A more likely explanation is that girls remain in the education system longer because they have fewer opportunities for paid employment if they stop studying. They are better represented in teaching because male students avoid teaching on account of its generally lower salary levels. Based on UNESCO in 2011, teaching profession is predominantly 86% for female. Currently, Myanmar is launching a long-term plan to improve its education system and the plan run through 2021. The National Education Strategic Plan (NESP) aims to improve teaching and learning for all education levels from kindergarten to universities. It will cost more than $2.1 billion a year. The plan seeks to extend basic education by two years to a total of 13 years. The plan is to include new curriculum, child-centered learning and interactive classrooms. Some people have praised the plan as an important start for developing a modern education system. But some have criticized the plan for failing to include educators, civic organizations and ethnic minorities in the decision-making. The plan took more than three years to develop and has received financial assistance from international donors and education advisers. Seeing the bigger picture means to me having a wide view of the world and seeing everything, it also means I see every solution and a whole range of different situations in day to day life. One thing I have found difficult myself is seeing the bigger picture for myself and for other people. I struggle to see it about myself, it can mean my anxieties and worries can think of every possibility which could happen and go wrong, which can lead to me feeling depressed and low, or feeling very sick and poorly. In the future, I believe that I will can do it.
The most useful lesson and advice that I have learnt about how to succeed is the fact that I was consistently told that I am always do better. This has encouraged me to compete with myself and to set bar higher for each of my attempts. Another useful advice that I’ve learnt is I need to allow myself to get outside of my comfort zone or outside the box which have allowed me to grow and enrich myself as a human being. It is the challenges and failure that create concrete understanding. Feeling comfortable outside comfortable zone with thinking outside the box is one true sign of growth. If women focus on competing with herself, it can set goals that fit the bigger picture of the career. Women need to not only look outside the immediate opportunity they have at work but when viewing their careers, opportunities they have at work. Women need to not only look outside the immediate opportunities they have at work but when viewing their career, not just look at the position above them. Women do not confide themselves to one career track, but instead look at where they can grow and follow their passion. When I talked to Hla Hla Win, I realized that she sees herself in bigger picture what she is planning for herself and her company. Hla Hla was born in Yangon, Myanmar and got a Master's Degree in Public Administration (MPA) at John F. Kennedy School of Government. She also studied at exponential Technologies at Singularity University and at William Penn University. She has clear vision and big picture for what she wants to do. In the future, she is planning to expand her project and to build a school in Myanmar. She said that “in my current company, I normally have a clear vision per month. For example, in this month, I have four goals for my company on speaking engagement in four target at organization including British council education, UNSECO, ICD, future learning by this end of march at Myanmar Plaza”. Hla Hla said that “I have a big dream and I told my husband that he cannot stop him from my big dream. I have two nieces and I want them to have a model for them in the future. They have somebody to be an example and looks at thing. All what I have learn come together to prepare myself for my current position”. She is strongly interested in virtual reality when she was studying in California and introduced it to Myanmar. She is co-founder and director of 360ed company which is not- for- profit social enterprise based out of Singularity University-NASA research Park in Silicon Valley, California. The first pilot project is launched in Myanmar which is advanced in Virtually Reality (VR) technology are integral part of education. VR technology via 360-degree films of exemplary classrooms for teacher professional development. “I want to help teachers through VR technology from transition of teacher-centered to student-center pedagogy. I am on a mission to democratize education, promote 21st century learning skills and student-centered pedagogy in classrooms by empowering local professionals and leveraging technology”. Women can create change through education. She mentioned that “in the class at HARVARD school, I took lots of class and had so many assignments and I had a small baby but I was not tired in learning. I believe that I can do it”. Learning and teaching go hand in hand. It means that the opportunity to accumulate new knowledge and master new skills and the change to nurture talent. Women have worked to break through barriers within their careers but to create change and these learning need to be shared. For example, Hla Hla highlighted that “it is not me alone who can create all of this huge stuffs in my company. I am inspired my teammate one and one to be part of my company. I need to build a dynamic team and good community without money. I make my team questioning of creating and make them believe that they can create stuffs by themselves. We can create thing together, do it together and share it together to the world. So far, we have some mistakes but we relearn from this mistakes and improve our works. They are trust and believe on me”. Twenty-first century, education integrates technologies, engaging students in ways which are not previously possible, creating new learning and new teaching possibilities and extending interactions with local and global communities.
Recently, Myanmar country have introduced technology to schools. Based on the Frontier Myanmar, the percentage of Myanmar’s population with a mobile phone subscription soared from just over 1 percent in 2010 to 49.5 percent four years later. According to LIRNEasia’s national baseline survey, by March 2015, 40% of Myanmar’s population aged 15–65 owned a mobile phone. An additional 41% had plans to get connected in the future. In addition, the Internet connection will be widely used in Myanmar and it is going to come to students and teachers and their homes. There’s been a marked improvement in internet connectivity in recent years. Myanmar is connected to the worldwide internet through three links: a subsea cable known as SEA-ME-WE 3, a big terrestrial link to Thailand, and a meagre terrestrial link to China. Technology is used to enhance student learning across the curriculum in purposeful and meaningful ways. Educational technology of 360ed company was launch in early of 2017 as a pilot project in Myanmar by the co-founder of Daw Hla Hla Win. The aim is to help teachers transition from teacher-centered to student-centered pedagogy through Virtual Reality (VR) technology platform where teacher can collaborate, share the best practices and virtually visit classrooms around the world. In September 2016, over 200 teachers from 128 private schools in Mandalay attended the event which teachers were able to see and experience an American classroom and observe the "First day of School" activities such as community building and creativity exercises. On march 4th and 5th, it is successfully hosted the very first VR hackathon training in Myanmar for 18 students which they learn how to operate the 360 camera, to shoot video and to edit the video. It has made significant progress to bring Internet connectivity, technology equipment, teacher professional development training including laptops, computer, tablets, mobile learning content to rural/semi-urban schools in Myanmar. The project was launched by Ericsson, the UK Department of International Development (DFID) and UNESCO in March this year. The project has provided 3,100 tablets, 186 teacher laptops, over 200 instructional training hours to 22 Ministry of Education team members, 31 school leaders and 155 teachers in Mandalay Region, Bago Region and Mon State. Some teachers have received educational technology training on basic use of applications on laptops and on applying multimedia such as graphics, videos and audios in teaching and learning. How can technology improve new teaching methodology? Educational technology aims to support a culture of learning where teachers and students where information and ideas are communicated, explored and created. Teachers and students are no longer solely dependent printed textbooks which are often times outdated. With today’s technology, one even has the ability to access experts, professionals, and leaders in their fields of interest, around the world at any given time. For example, through VR technology has supported the control and ownership of learning back into the hands of the teachers. They may be able to set their own “learning” schedule and to get work done when they want. The teacher with the VR cardboard can learn anywhere. They are able to set up their learning schedule anytime, let them explore the different classroom environment, teaching methodology, teaching material on their own. Teachers listen and watch with the cardboard and it seems to sit and study in the U.S. classroom. Hla Hla mention that “she is planning to show the different classroom of teaching around the world to teachers in Myanmar for both private and public schools. In the future, it will have Burmese language in the recording sound. In the first year of 2017, it is free offer for App, training of hackathon, and event. The most important and excited it is to empower all the teachers in Myanmar. One of the growing technological trends in education through hackathons the ability for teachers to learn at any time, from anywhere”. When teachers are using VR technology as a tool or a support for teaching method, teachers is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, or display information. It allows many more them to be actively thinking about new teaching skills, not teacher-led lessons or teacher center. The teacher's role changes. The teacher is no longer the center of attention as the dispenser of information, but rather plays the role of facilitator, setting clear goals and providing guidelines and resources, and providing suggestions and support for student activity. What are the challenges of technology and solution? It might take sometimes to see the full results of educational technology. The current teaching in Myanmar revolves around textbook instruction with little to no research focus. Students are based on exclusively by textbook, lessons delivered through memorization and recitation which are still in traditional method of teaching. One class in high school have at least 50 to 60 student sit at their desks and listening to the teachers. Some teachers might prefer their own traditional methods of teaching. It will have some challenges to teachers and students to shift from teacher center, traditional pedagogical, to student center by using educational technology. Plus, students still hold traditional beliefs and tend to perceive teaching as the dissemination of information, and learning as a passive activity. The questions how can technology promote critical thinking of students and teachers in the classroom? It need to be balance of using technology in the classroom to ensure the healthy learning. The teachers should equip students with the critical thinking skills necessary to determine when and how best to use technology for good educational purposes. Some students might change their interest such as unnecessary usage internet or video game. Also, the opportunities for learning are not limited to a classroom, but can occur in any place and at any time. Students can learn anywhere. Conclusion It is a good sign for Myanmar for using technology as engagement in classroom with global community. The tool uses of technology are highly compatible with this new teacher role and change new method of teaching, since they stimulate so much active mental work on the part of students. Over the past several years in Cambodia, Arts Education is almost non-existent in Cambodian government schools and most students in high school spend their school days memorizing and writing rather than critically thinking or expressing themselves. I’ve all seen the trend of schools cutting or eliminating the arts from their curriculum due to budget constraints. Arts education refers to education of music, dance, theater, drawing, painting, sculpture, and visual arts.
The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) in Cambodia has encountered some difficulties in implementing Arts Education in schools nationwide. Based on Nguonly. L in 2004, highlighted that the main constraint of implementation of art education is the shortage of teachers for this subject, textbooks and instructional materials to be used by students and teachers. In addition, from 1996 up to the present, Cambodia have implemented a system of 12 years of general education consisting of six years of primary, three years of lower secondary and three years of upper secondary education (6+3+3). The art curriculum was developed but it is not well-implemented. The two most established and widely known institutions for studying art in Cambodia are the Royal University of Fine Art in Phnom Penh, and Phare Ponleu Selpak (PPS) in Battambang. Also, only a few organizations in Cambodia such as Cambodia Living Arts in Phnom Penh, Epic Arts in Kampot, Small Art School in Siem Reap, Sa Sa Art Projects in Phnom Penh, and Let Us Create in Sihanoukville, which provides education, social supports and arts training for students such as paining and dancing performance because of financial limited from their family to send their children to public or private school. For example, PPS is a local organization which was started in 1994 by nine Cambodians. They had received art therapy while living in a Thai refugee camp as a means of helping them recover from war trauma from Khmer Rouge. According to the website, the nonprofit NGO has a public school that serves 750 students, a visual and applied arts school, a performing arts school, a child development center, and a social services unit that supports and monitors about 1,000 families. Also, many of the students served are "street kids, trafficked children, and orphans." Why should include art in education of Cambodia? Numerous studies have demonstrated the amazing benefits of art education. Kaagan, S. (1998) mentioned participation of arts is a key component in improving learning throughout all academic areas which is in reducing student dropout, raising student attendance, developing better team players, fostering a love for learning, improving greater student dignity, enhancing student creativity. The art education also provides learners with non-academic benefits such as promoting self-esteem, motivation, aesthetic awareness, cultural exposure, creativity, improved emotional expression, as well as social harmony and appreciation of diversity. Eisner (1987) emphasized that an effective education in the arts helps students to see what they look at, hear what they listen to, and feel what they touch. In addition, Eisner explained that a good education includes a good arts education is to introduce young people to great literature (novels, poetry and short stories, plays), dance, visual arts, music and film. Based on my experience in working at U.S Peace Corps, throughout art club the students can show their performance such as dancing, singing, drama role play on different topic on domestic violence, alcoholism, gender issue in their performances. Especially, they learn more about gender development and empowerment through performances, but they learn how to utilize the arts as a platform for these kinds of discussions in their schools. In March 25th – 27th, 2016, I joined 5th Annual Create Cambodia festival in theme of “Strong Women and the Arts “, organized by group of Peace Volunteers. It had 110 Cambodian High School students, 18 Cambodian Teachers and 18 Peace Corps Volunteers all from 11 different provinces in Cambodia participate. Furthermore, it had 5 Khmer Arts organizations performing and teaching arts workshops to the students and teachers. For many students, this was the first time they have seen a professional arts performance and performed by themselves. There were 11 schools who showed singing performances, dancing, both Khmer traditional and hip-hop, live-drawing and multiple mini-plays that addressed various issues in the student’s communities, paining and other. I notice that festival was a huge success and the students and teachers should take what they learned at the festival back to their villages and continue to spread arts education throughout Cambodia. The event is a chance for these Cambodian students and teachers to see how the arts are blossoming in Cambodia on a bigger scale and learn new lesson plans and skills they can take back to their communities. Public schools in Cambodia do not have formal arts education and while some schools have maintained a traditional music and dance programs. The arts are central to the idea of education being about inculcating a love of learning and of acquiring knowledge. Throughout art education, the students can develop and change themselves to be: Confidence: Students have a chance to stand up on the stage like singing which gives them a chance to step outside their comfort zone. Through arts, it empowers youth or students through confidence and leadership skill building. By performing in front of others students or audience, they will increase their planning and self-confidence skills. Also, it builds self-esteem and confidence skills through creative expression and public performance. Decision Making: The arts strengthen problem solving and critical thinking skills. In term of personality, they will learn how to be patience and understanding, delegation and teamwork. They will know working on a team and managing large project with limited resources. After the event, they will become more confident working in effectively in any situation. Collaboration: Many of the arts. They must share responsibility and compromise to achieve their common goal. The student will learn how to organize an event in term of event organizing, transportation preparation, facilitation, logistic preparation, venue planning and team works. They will learn more about delegation and organizing an event with different people who all live in different district. It can be difficult, but they will know how to be good communication style and become a strong, multi-faceted team. In this reason, the significance of arts education in the school system from primary to secondary and higher education are really important in Cambodia. It has an impact on personal development in the youth, the education of the mind, the further development of Khmer arts and culture and growth in relation to arts education. Education and engagement in the arts are an essential part of the school curriculum and an important component in the educational program of every student. Women’s Leadership and Education Education is important for everyone, but it is a critical area of empowerment for girls and women. Investing in women’s education is one of the most effective ways to provide impact for the community in terms of poverty reduction and sustainable development. Especially, education is an essential means of imparting women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to fully participate in the development process in society. If women receive higher education, there is a possibility of higher positions of leadership. Based on Kirk, J. in 2004, it states that women are rarely found in positions of authority and leadership in schools, and career development. Even in countries such as Thailand and Myanmar where the percentage of women is high, there are limited numbers of women as head teachers, directors, education officers and managers at the district, regional and national levels. There are constraints for women to develop their career such as negative attitudes towards women’s ability to manage and work in leadership positions, lack of female role models, and commitments that are difficult to reconcile with family and child care responsibilities. With higher education of women, they can enhance their spirituality, develop their leadership abilities and give impact to other people in their community. The presence of women in schools can impact positively on other girls and the community. The African proverb said that “Train a man and you have trained an individual. Train a woman and you have trained a community”. This idea is similar one in the speech of Mrs. Michael Obama. During the visit of Mrs. Obama, the first lady of the United State for the “Let Girls Learn” Initiative at a high school in Siem Reap province in Cambodia in early of 2015, she encourages the girls their finish education, telling them to ignore anyone who says they can not do it. She mentioned that “When you complete your education and I know that you will find another young girl in your community or in your family, and you help them. You mentor them. You hold their hand when it gets hard.” It is definitely true that women can support and encourage other girls and other people to successfully complete their studies and maybe even continue a future good career. They play key roles in educating their family, children and other people. Women can also be there to listen to any problems and provide guidance when necessary. My Group Independent Study Travel (GIST) seeks to highlight the important role of leadership training that helps women chart their professional and personal growth. The three main objectives of my study are to explore the curriculum design of leadership training, to identify sources and opportunities to build leadership skills and the ways these skills can contribute to personal and professional growth, and to identify the impact to the community after graduating from the program. My study will conduct in two countries in Thailand and Myanmar. Any comment, please feel free to give any comments and suggestions on my GIST Proposal. |
Mourng Kagna
I am Cambodian. I have worked closely with community members, volunteers, and students in the area of education. I am passionate about empowering Cambodian women to help them make their own decisions about advancing their education and developing their leadership skills.
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