Hope in Hard Times: Education and Resistance in Myanmar
Dr Joanna Barnard is CEO of Prospect Burma, an NGO providing pathways to higher education for Myanmar’s marginalised young people
In Myanmar’s dark and protracted tragedy, there are many points of light.
Since the coup of 2021, the military junta has failed to consolidate the power it thought to claim. More than half the country lies outside of its control, and across a broad front extending to almost all states and regions of the country, the military’s right to seize control is still being contested by a patchwork of revolutionary, ethnic and pro-democracy groups.
The struggle is bitter. Ethnic armed organisations with long histories of resistance have renewed their fight with the Burmese army. New people’s defence forces have sprung up and taken territory that now sits under local control. A National Unity Government speaks for Myanmar internationally and particularly at the United Nations General Assembly where, five years on from the coup, the UN does not recognise the military and allows Ambassador Kyaw Moe Tun to speak for the oppressed in his country.
Conflict, conscription and the threat of bombardment has created a refugee crisis along all of Myanmar’s borders. The United Nations estimates that more than 3.5 million people have fled their homes. Another 1.1 million Rohingya remain trapped in Cox’s Bazar, unable to return to Rakhine where the Arakan Army has seized control of almost all of the state.
In a world where autocracy seems rampant, and the question of legitimacy is all too often answered by violence and fear, the failure of the coup is a spectacular sign of the power of people. Myanmar’s many ethnicities do not accept that the military can strip them of their right to be free.
The junta has now completed what it has called an ‘election’, with its proxy Union Solidarity and Development Party claiming a decisive parliamentary majority. Most opposition parties were banned, and many of those few who did vote could only choose between a highly limited choice of candidates. Turnout, unsurprisingly, was low. The ballot has been widely rejected by the UN, civil society, and many international governments as neither free nor fair. ASEAN has been steadfast in its refusal to endorse the results.
The impact of the coup across health, education and human services has been dire. Monasteries, hospitals and schools are regularly targeted by the junta’s air force. Most universities are closed. Recent UNDP data indicates that nearly 4 in 5 rural youth are out of education or training, youth unemployment stands at 25%, and women face disproportionate barriers to continued study. Many of Myanmar’s children have no access to any education at all. This is truly a catastrophe for the country and its future. The only winners are the human traffickers, the groups running scam centres in the country’s borderlands, and others who benefit from misery.
Young people are themselves frequent targets of junta violence. Nearly 100,000 young people are estimated to have been conscripted since February 2024. Many have been taken by force, given minimal training and deployed to frontline combat or high-risk support roles. Families live in fear of their loved ones being taken, and many must make difficult decisions to try to ensure their children’s safety.
Data from the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack (GCPEA) shows that between February 2021 and May 2025, 333 schools were attacked, with the northern region of Sagaing experiencing the highest number of incidents. On 12 September 2025, 500-pound bombs were dropped on two private boarding schools in Thayet Ta Pin village, in Rakhine State, while the students were asleep, resulting in 22 student deaths and 22 injuries.
Yet education still shines brightly. For every school that is flattened, for every victim of war, there are ethnic and civil society groups who are creating new opportunities for study. Teachers, university lecturers, rectors and parents are making these new forms of learning possible: in person where they can, and leveraging new technologies to expand provision online.
Prospect Burma exists to support the determination of these young people. Founded 37 years ago to provide access to higher education when Myanmar’s universities were closed under previous military rule, we have been friends to the people of Myanmar for a long time. Our team collectively has decades of experience in delivering education programmes in high-risk and highly insecure environments.
We have had to adapt. Since the coup, we have reshaped our existing programmes and introduced new initiatives to overcome the evolving obstacles young people face in accessing education, ensuring that learning remains possible even in the most challenging circumstances.
This is all about innovation, and not being afraid to try new things. Online learning is particularly important when movement across borders is so fraught with danger, and when students lack, or have lost, critical documentation that proves their identity and educational background. Some international universities are responding generously to the needs of Myanmar students through the provision of online degrees and other programmes. Many teachers refuse to work for the military, and as part of the Civil Disobedience Movement are creating new schools and colleges.
We are proud to be there, and we will stay the course. As the world feels increasingly unstable and unpredictable, Myanmar seems to be a forgotten conflict, but inattention from the media does not change the reality on the ground. When Myanmar starts to recover from the horrors inflicted by this coup, the country will need its youth. Above all, it’s our experience that they want to learn, and will prioritise and prize education over many other needs.
The passion of young people to believe in change, and to become that change, is truly a light in the darkness of military violence. A peaceful and more prosperous future is possible.
The opinions expressed are those of the contributor, not necessarily of the RSAA.
