A handover ceremony of new school buildings was held on August 4 at Ywar Thit Basic Education Post Primary School in Ywar Thit village, Htantabin Township, Yangon region, under the “Programme for Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Schools in Flood and Landslide Affected Areas (Grant Aid).”
The programme has been implemented by the Department of Basic Education (DBE), the Ministry of Education with support of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). It was response to the flood in July 2015, which caused damage to 4,116 school facilities, affecting more than 170,000 students’ learning in 12 states and regions in Myanmar, according to JICA in a press release.
The progranne is based on the Grant Agreement (GA), which was signed between the Ministry of Education and JICA on 22 December 2015, amounting up to JPY 1.5 billion (one billion five hundred million Japanese Yen) (Approximately 170 billion MMK). The programme provides the direct budgetary support to the ministry to reconstruct over 100 schools damaged by the flood in Yangon, Ayeyarwady, Chin, Rakhine, Bago, Mandalay and Magway with better and stronger building standards and structures, based on the
Build-Back-Better principles, so that the schools become better prepared for future floods and other natural disasters.
Ywar Thit Post Primary School was the first school, of which the school building construction was completed under the programme. One classroom building with 6 classrooms, one KG building with 3 classrooms, one school principal’s building, and one latrine with two booths were constructed, ensuring continuous and quality learning of 286 students from KG to Grade 6.
The ceremony was organized by U Than Zaw Aung, Principal of the school and attended by Dr. Myo Thein Gyi, Union Minister of Education, Mr. Tateshi Higuchi, Ambassador of Japan to Myanmar and Mr. Nobuo Iwai, Senior Representative of JICA. During the ceremony, the school documents were handed over from Mr. Higuchi to Dr. Myo Thein Gyi, while an appreciation letter and memorial gift were handed over to Mr. Higuchi, from Dr. Myo Thein Gyi and U Ba Than, Htantabin township Education Officer respectively.
Dr. Myo Thein Gyi said in his opening speech, “Thanks very much to the people and Government of Japan for supporting the important physical infrastructure which is very helpful for development of Education while Myanmar Government is speeding up the enhancement of Education programme.”
Also, Mr. Higuchi said in his speech: “These new buildings are a gift from the Japanese people to the students who are creating the future of Myanmar. I wish you all to remember that this school building is constructed from the kindness of the Japanese people, who are thinking about the children of Myanmar and future of Myanmar development.”
In addition to the this programme, JICA continues to support efforts of the Ministry of Education in order to improve access to and quality of primary education in Myanmar through support to the ongoing primary education curriculum reforms, expansion of education colleges, and teacher education and training, contributing to human resource development for Myanmar’s nation building.