Looking to the future
source : Myanmartimes
Myantertimes Interview with Khin Nyunt
What do you think is the most important thing to be done for the country?
Economic prosperity, of course. But peace and political stability in the country are also closely linked to it.To prosper economically, we also need political stability. But in any case, economic prosperity is essential to develop the country, to raise the standard of living of the people.Look at the highly developed nations: basically, they are like that because of economic power. A poor country has little chance to develop.Here, in Myanmar, we are not an industrial nation, and compared to other countries in the region, we have a long way to go to catch up.As we are an agrarian economy by tradition, we must improve upon that. This is what we are trying to do. Once we had only one harvest a year, but now we have two, and in some places three. To be able to plant during the dry seasons, we had to build dams to store the rainwater. We have built well over a hundred dams by now. I think Central and Upper Myanmar has benefited most from this. From that we have to go on to mechanized farming.
What changes have been made to the teaching methods, curriculums etc in schools?
We started planning for changes in 1997. We have drawn up a four-year plan for education.Our first aim is to offer all-round education, the second is to raise the level of studies to be equal to international standards, and the third is to abolish as much as possible the disparity between education available in the urban and rural areas.With these three main goals in mind we started working in 1997 for educational reforms. Over the course of a week we held seminars in the Central Institute of Public Services, Phaunggyi, with township level educational officers, school principals, and even retired personnel of the Education Ministry taking part in the discussions.There, we decided on the ‘student as the focus’ plan rather than the traditional teaching method of the teacher doing the talking and the students listening in silence. Now, we are trying to change it so that the main objective is for the student to learn, not merely to listen to the teacher talking. Things must be explained to the student until he understands completely.
We changed the examination system as well. Instead of just one final examination to be passed in order to go on to a higher grade, the students sit for end-of-semester exams.These count in the final marks, so that the test is about what the student learns all through the school year and not just what is crammed for the finals.As for the curriculum, we have included such diverse subjects as national spirit, love of culture, civic duty etc. So it’s not just learning, by heart, lessons out of a book. Senior General Than Shwe has specifically instructed that Basic Education and Higher Education must be closely linked, and that in four years our standard of education must be on par with that of our SE Asian neighbours - by the year 2003. Not only did we change the curriculum, we are changing teaching methods as well. In the past in Yangon, we had schools of such high calibre as MEHS, now Dagon SHS 1, then Latha SHS 2, and St Paul’s which is now Botataung SHS 6, also Sanchaung SHS 1.
In these schools they had great teachers. So for each subject, we taped on video how these teachers taught their classes. These tapes we sent out to schools for other teachers to learn from.I’ll give you one example. I was in a town called Lwe-mway, near Kyaington, and found there a high school in which no one had passed matriculation for nine years running.When I went there, the school year had been underway for three months.When I got back to Yangon I sent them a TV, a VCR and the teaching tapes. By the next matriculation, there was a passing average of 27 per cent, and two students got three distinctions each!Whenever I travel to rural areas I take along TVs and VCRs and teaching tapes to give to the schools. Of course, we give batteries, too, since most places have no electricity.That is the change in teaching methods; as for the curriculum we are changing it to be on par with O Levels and A Levels.
Can you say something on preventive measures being taken against HIV?
HIV, AIDS... it’s a national cause. If we ignore it, it will be the scourge that will destroy entire races.For some years, we have been working closely with the Ministry of Health on this.But, as you know, we are a very conservative, religious society, and it was rather against our culture to put condoms on show as a means of prevention. In other countries, they even distribute condoms at schools. But here we had to try other means so that the message will get through, for the people to accept it.For prevention, we had to make sure that young girls do not cross over the border to work in the sex trade and also we needed to control drug addicts.Since seven years ago, we have set up workshops in the border towns so that young girls can learn a trade to earn their living. Combined with HIV awareness lessons, these are part of the plan of lessening HIV infection.In the early days, Health Ministry officials said that to put up posters saying that AIDS is fatal gives too harsh a message, that it will cause psychological trauma to those suffering from it.
But I personally felt that many more needed to understand the warning clearly, so I insisted that they put this on all posters: that AIDS kills, no cure, no hope.Now personnel of the Ministry of Health and NGOs such as the Maternal and Child Welfare Association are teaching HIV awareness.To be frank, monitoring infected cases is difficult. We have no means of getting the exact data on how many cases there are. To test each person would cost around US$2, and really we cannot afford it.We have asked WHO (the World Health Organisation) for assistance, but we have not received anything sufficient. So, we rely on ourselves. We must start the monitoring system, and we will do it with our own limited resources.We need to get test kits. Also, another plan is to set up care centres for AIDS patients. Their days must end in some comfort and ease and it will also help contain the disease.First, we need to start with centres in the cities, and then on to towns on the borders.
How many hours a day do you work, and how many days a week?
(laughing) Don’t ask me, you won’t believe me, just ask my staff. For 12 years now, I have been sleeping in the office. No holidays, no weekends off, no leave.People will find it hard to believe that I almost live at my office.But I do go home every evening to my family, to spend time with my wife, my children, grandchildren. I come back after watching the news. It’s my family time, I must at least spare a few hours for my wife!I know at home I can relax, but there are so many things to do, it’s more convenient to sleep over at the office. I go to bed at around midnight, six hours’ sleep is enough for me. My office is practically my home now.
Do you do anything to relax, release stress?
Well, I try to keep a peaceful state of mind... also I don’t worry. I put my work into compartments and do what is at hand, without worrying about other things. Otherwise I would go nuts!
With globalization, some Asian countries fear that their culture will disappear. Should there be any worry for Myanmar also?
Powerful countries have wealth and technology that can overwhelm smaller nations, so certainly it’s natural for them to worry. For Myanmar, well, I can’t say there’s nothing to worry about, of course there should be some anxiety, and we must therefore be aware of the danger. With our focus on national culture, such as the annual performing arts competitions started many years ago, we are doing something to protect our culture.A lot of work is being done by the Women’s Affairs Committee to instill a love of culture in the young people. The Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education , through their own agendas, are keeping the culture alive. So, it’s not that we need not worry, but we must be careful that it does not become a real danger.
Do you have any plans to expand access to the internet and email services?
Yes, we do. At the last ASEAN meeting, it was decided to make e-technology available to all member countries , if not on the same level of usage. We started e-Education a few days ago.With the Internet, however, we need to proceed with caution, because it can be used to disrupt the stability of a country. There are a number of countries in the region as examples and we have been warned by some of their leaders about the misuse of the Internet to inflame political chaos. They have warned us of the dangers.But as for developing ICT, which is Information, Communication, and Technology - it’s no longer IT, you see, it’s ICT - we will give our support to develop it within our limits.For example, we now have a large number of young experts who can write software.We can help them develop their profession by bringing in foreign experts to advise them, teach them.
Can you comment on rumours about splits at the top level of the Government?
(Laughing) These are the rumors brought in by foreign news media, also some diplomats here like to voice the same thing, and one can see a lot about this written in foreign newspapers...it’s all just wishful thinking on their part.We in the military have a tradition of respect from one rank to the next...we have a regard for each other.We have no problems.
Would you relate one moment of great happiness in your personal life and another in your professional life?
Happiest moments? Let me see...personally, the successful placing of the new Hti on the Shwedagon. The happiness I feel for this occasion is incomparable to anything, anything at all in my life. It is the height of my joy.I feel I can die contented.Professionally , the peace accords we have been able to bring about is another thing that makes me truly happy.You know how previous governments have tried time after time to bring peace, but the negotiations all broke down. In our time, we managed to make peace with 17 armed groups. “We succeeded because we changed tactics. Before, the condition of peace was that the insurgency groups give up their arms.“And at that point the talks would break down, every single time. It’s human nature, that it must be hard for them to give up arms all of a sudden.
We started our negotiations by asking them what they want. They said development for their regions, higher standards of living for their people and equality with other States.We replied that these things could happen but that we must work together.In the meantime they could keep their arms, but once we had progressed in our work then they should give up their policy of armed struggle.We go many times into their regions where they still carry arms, and we go in safety. We have this mutual trust. But the moment when they must finally lay down their arms is with the emergence of the National Constitution.That is the agreement between us. Bringing about this peace gives me great joy.