The role and prospects of private schools in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar

Abstract

　The development of private schools at the basic education level in the Republic of the Union of Myanmar was analyzed based on various statistics to determine the reasons for their development and the differences between states/regions. Private schools developed rapidly, especially in the high school program until 2019/20. The matriculation examination pass rate of private school students was almost double that of public school students, indicating that the expectation of students and parents was to prepare for the matriculation examination. After the military took power in 2021, the number of students in private schools declined the most in the high school program, however the same was true for public schools. As indicated by the decrease in the number of students taking the matriculation examinations, the main reason for this decline may be that there was less demand for students to go to university.