Rakhine is one of the poorest states in Myanmar, experiencing conflict, insecurity, and displacement.
Education in Rakhine trails behind much of the country, with up to 36% of children not in school.
Primary schools suffer from a lack of resources, teachers and safe buildings.
Exclusion from school denies a fair chance of reaching their potential and fuels the cycle of poverty, disadvantage and conflict.
Segregation between communities remains a challenge, yet there is realistic optimism that mutual trust and respect can grow as teachers and parents work to improve school environments.
Solution
UNICEF, with UK government aid funding, is supporting the Learning Together initiative.
Myanmar‘s government has included Physical Education in the basic education curriculum and recognises that PE teaches children about healthy and active lifestyles, self confidence, respect, leadership, teamwork, and cooperation.
Sports activities can also cut across socio-economic, political and cultural boundaries.
Montrose will develop a context-specific module for the curriculum, along with textbooks and teacher training to promote playing sports together in targeted areas of Rakhine state.
Impact
The curriculum developed by Montrose will teach and promote the benefits of sports activities, plus health and safety and how to care for equipment.
Activities will be culture, gender and disability sensitive, promoting inclusion and peace across and within communities.
Montrose will work in consultation with relevant stakeholders to ensure a contextually appropriate curriculum which considers different grade levels, backgrounds, ethnicities, religions and cultures.
A teacher training workshop will be organised for township education officers, headteachers and partners to cascade the training to school level.
