Press Release

The new school year has started nationwide in Myanmar. This year marks the third year of introduction of the new primary curriculum since its first introduction of Grade 1 curriculum in June 2017. Primary students from Grade 1 to 3 across the country are now learning with the new textbooks. Since 2014, JICA has been providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Education in the current primary curriculum reform of Grade 1 to 5 under the "Project for Primary Level of Basic Education Curriculum", widely known as "CREATE project", .

"After three years of the roll-out of the new primary curriculum, we are delighted to see many positive changes in students' learning in classrooms. Students learning with the new curriculum are more active in classrooms, and their academic scores also improved." said Ms. Kumiko IWASAWA, Project Formulation Advisor on Education sector in JICA Myanmar office.

According to the sampling survey of the new curriculum conducted at 200 schools in four townships across Myanmar, namely Naungkhio, Magwey, Naungkhio and Tanitharyi, the average Math test scores of the new Grade 2 students improved to 6.35, compared to 5.09 of the old Grade 2 students.

The class observation of the survey also indicates positive changes in the new Grade 2 Math classes in both students' attitude as well as teaching skills and practices of the teachers. The students more actively participate in the classes by asking questions and expressing their opinions. The teachers now spend more time to prepare for each class, and make sure students' understanding during the classes.

The JICA project works for all the nine subjects of the primary level including Physical Education, Performing Arts (music and dances) and Visual Arts (fine arts). "All these subjects are equally important in order to nurture various skills and abilities such as teamwork and problem-solving, known as the 21st century skills which are essential for succeeding in the real life." Ms. Iwasawa continues, "Through the new curriculum, we hope the children will thrive in their individual lives, but also will become a backbone of Myanmar's nation building and sustainable socio-economic development."

In addition to the education sector, JICA extends its support to the health sector. "We are supporting to fostering Medical Engineers, who are to maintain medical equipment at the hospitals in Myanmar. We are also providing technical assistance to develop its curriculum in collaboration with Japanese Universities and University of Medical Technology, Yangon", Daw K Thwe Aung, Senior Program Officer on Health sector says. As operation and maintenance of the medical equipment are essential for quality service for patients, JICA has cooperated for providing one-year diploma course with practical session through the project for Human Resource Development of Medical Engineering.

Japan's cooperation for Education/ Human Resource development can effectively contribute to the quality of the services provided, particularly when it is combined with the quality infrastructure. JICA is now supporting construction of the New Yangon Specialist Hospital. It is expected to enhance patient-centered medical and healthcare services for cerebral and cardiovascular diseases in Myanmar by providing more treatment on inpatients, outpatients, and make advanced heart disease and neurosurgical operations in Yangon. "With appropriate medical training and education which care about the patients, Myanmar medical staff can commit the high quality medical service for Myanmar people especially for the patients who are from lower Myanmar", Daw K Thwe Aung said.

JAPAN/ JICA has supported the health sector in Myanmar since 1970's. Foward the achievement of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030 in Myanmar as MoHS' strategy, the cooperation between MoHS and JICA have been implemented under 3 pillars: strengthening health system, human resource development and infectious disease control. In recent cooperation, JICA has been supporting renovation of state-level hospitals in Lashio, Loikaw, Magway and Dawei. JICA has been providing the PhD course for 12 Medical Doctors and short-term training for 55 Medical Doctors in Japan, strengthening the capacity of 18 medical engineers, training 559 Medical Record Technicians, and training more than 600 community health workers for malaria control.