The Inya Institute Quarterly Newsletter
Spring 2025
It is hard to fathom how fast the crisis has accelerated for Myanmar’s civilian population in the past three months. In January, the new U.S. administration decided to cut USAID-funding projects. The decision has led to a worsening situation for migrant and refugee communities living in Thailand and Bangladesh and has cost the lives of people who were dependent on the medical aid the funding provided. In late March, a massive earthquake struck central Myanmar, causing enormous casualties and damage. At the time of writing, the full extent of the quake’s impact is not yet fully understood. The media coverage – considerably restrained by the junta’s crackdown on local journalists – has revealed neighborhoods in Mandalay and Sagaing that are completely devastated. Ironically, Naypyidaw, the junta’s seat of power created just 20 years ago, was also significantly hit. As has been proven on countless occasions in the past, it is the resilience and determination of local communities supported by civil society organizations, good will forces, and international aid that will hopefully, again, prove decisive in overcoming this new tragedy.
Across the Myanmar–Bangladesh border, Ahmmed Sukanu, a Rohingya refugee and former participant in our 2023/24 Myanmar’s Borderlands Research Program, offers an account of another disaster, a man-made one this time: the devastating impact that
In this issue
the USAID funding cuts are having on the Rohingya refugee communities in terms of health care provision and food supply. Ahmmed’s piece is the first of a series of contributions that will be featured in our newsletter documenting how the situation is evolving.
In this issue, we also report on how military conscription is impacting the operations and students at four post-secondary community schools with which the institute is developing a partnership. Despite dire conditions, the four educational organizations, grouped as the Myanmar Council of Community Colleges (MCCC), are developing a bold plan to transition to a B.A. degree-granting institutions, an initiative that the institute is committed to supporting. More updates on this in future issues of this newsletter.
Lastly, at Inya, Nian Mary Aung, Thandar Lin, and Swam Pyae joined the team in late February as our three new interns for a five-month period. The future educators will support the team in the development of materials on a new course on problem solving skills.
At the end of the internship, they will be also encouraged to use the materials and run their own courses within their communities and networks, and disseminate the learning gained through their work with our team. Join us in welcoming them to the institute!
The Inya Institute team in Yangon
Reflections from the Field 4 “From Wishing at the Banyan Tree to Giving Birth”, R. Saruya
Testimony 6 “The Impact of the Cut-off of the USAID Aid to Rohingya Refugees Camps”, A. Sukanu Views from the Ground 9 “Military Conscription and Responses of Post-Secondary Community Schools”, T. Thar & S. L. Pyae Sone New Interns at Inya 13
Upcoming Events 15
New Books on Myanmar 16
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Myanmar Earthquake 28 March 2025
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Reflections from the Field
From Wishing at the Banyan Tree to Giving Birth: The “Mothering Path” in Myanmar Buddhist Women’s Experiences
Rachelle Saruya is a Visiting Researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo. She recently received her PhD in the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto and is working on her manuscript on the making of Myanmar Buddhist nuns through their education, Code of Conduct, and the spaces in which the nuns live their lives. In addition to her work on nuns, she has written about laywomen and their role in spreading Abhidhamma teachings transnationally, as well as Burmese American girl children and young women’s experiences with Theravada Buddhism in the San Francisco Bay Area. Rachelle was a 2024 CAORC-INYA scholar fellow whose research is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. State Department.
This project looks at the world of aspiring and emerging Buddhist mothers, their wishes to conceive and give birth to children and then the pregnancy and birthing experiences that will help define them as lay Buddhists. I examine the lived experiences of Myanmar Buddhist women in and outside of Myanmar and also look at how mothers in the Buddhist scriptures and in contemporary Burmese literature are perceived in society. As much of my previous research has included nuns, I use instances from the field where nuns are actually biological mothers or have responsibilities of looking after young nuns that replicate roles of motherhood. With regards to laywomen, I find that the majority of women I talked to became more religious after giving birth and raising children than pre-pregnancy. This project highlights Buddhist women’s own voices and experiences, which are largely absent from the Pali canon.
The idea for this project started when conducting research for my dissertation on Myanmar Buddhist nuns in Sagaing Hill. In 2018, my friend came to visit me at the nunnery I was staying at and asked if I would like to accompany her, her husband, and brother, to a place
called Kyauk Kalay, meaning “Stone Baby”. She was trying to get pregnant and this place was known to grant wishes for those wanting babies. I agreed, yet when she arrived, the nun who was looking after me told us that we didn’t need to travel so far, that there was a pagoda up the hill for that very same
purpose, called the 30 Lions Pagoda (see Pic. 2). I had been to that pagoda a few times not realizing that that one was specifically for wishing for a child. This seemed to be an interesting contrast between the nunneries and celibate nuns that make up so much of the area’s population on the one hand, and a pagoda up the hill used as a sacred site for helping women get pregnant on the other. I kept this project in mind and having finished my dissertation, I am now actively pursuing this new research.
Since September 2023, I have been in Japan as a Visiting Researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo. With the generosity and support of the CAORC-INYA Scholars Fellowship I have been able to work on this research. I have not yet traveled back to Myanmar since COVID-19. Instead, I have carried out research previously with the San Francisco Bay Area Burmese communities and more recently with the Tokyo Burmese communities.
When first researching about wishing-for-children rituals, in particular, I became interested in the theme of wishing for children at trees with guardian deities, examples of which are scattered throughout the Buddhist
Pic. 1: Bodhi tree with a Jizō image in front of a Burmese monastery in Saitama, Japan. Photo credit: Thuzar Hlaing
scriptures. For instance, in the leadup to the Buddha’s enlightenment, Sujātā, a woman from a wealthy family, helped break the Buddha-to-be’s fast by offering him milk-rice in the mistaken belief that he was the banyan-tree deity who had granted her wish to have a son. While there are a few studies in South Asian Studies on wishing trees and tree worship, there seems to be limited to no scholarship on Myanmar and trees and tharsupan, a Burmese word that translates as “wishing for a son” but can mean more generally “wishing for a child”. This lack of academic scholarship could be due to the supposed marginality of women’s rituals in general, which in turn has led to trees receiving considerably less scholarly attention than Buddha statues and pagodas. However, the same process of marginalization could also be driven by Buddhist scholars’ sense that tree-worship is more relevant to Brahminism, Hinduism, or animism than to their own favored topic. At first most of my data was taken from online sources including but not limited to blogs, Facebook posts, YouTube videos, and historical videos about pagodas. After I had seemed to exhaust my online data sources,
Sayama Thuzar Hlaing, a Burmese teacher who I had met a few years ago on a different trip to Japan and who has been instrumental in helping me with this research, suggested I make a survey, which was something I had never done before. She had seen Japanese researchers and students studying Myanmar using this method. I took her advice and it turned out to be far more useful than I had imagined. We started with questions asking about general demographics, then questions on wishingfor-children rituals, and then questions about religiosity, giving birth, and raising children. There were two batches of participants. The first group were from social media contacts who were located in either in Myanmar, Thailand, or Japan. I then interviewed a woman in Tokyo who belonged to a Facebook group for Burmese mothers living in Japan. She posted a link to the survey on the group’s page which brought more respondents.
Wanting to learn more about the growing Burmese community in Japan, Sayama Thuzar Hlaing and I traveled to a monastery in Saitama. At the front of the monastery, we were greeted by a young Bodhi tree and next to it an image of Jizō, the Japanese bodhisattva often associated with protecting children (see Pic. 1). A young woman was the main lunch donor for that day. It was her birthday and about fifteen of her friends joined and cooked food for the occasion. I was surprised to see such young people at the monastery though, as my time at monasteries in the SF Bay Area saw that the usual donors were mainly comprised of the older generations. It reminds me to note the variety of ways that communities form, their differences, yet also similarities, and the changes that occur through time and space.
I hope that this research will contribute to our understanding of committing to being a mother and mothering. Understanding how a woman’s act (or many acts) of wishing for a child – whether at a banyan tree, at a pagoda, or in other spaces – and her going through pregnancy and birth, aids in her path as a Buddhist laywoman. In short, what being a Buddhist mother in and outside of Myanmar means.
Pic. 2: Lion holding a child at the back of the 30 Lions Pagoda. Photo credit: Rachelle Saruya
Testimony
The Impact of the Cut-off of USAID Assistance to Rohingya Refugee Camps
Ahmmed Sukanu is from Nga Sar Kyu Village, Northern Maungdaw, Arakan State, Myanmar. Since his matriculation in 2015, his aspirations for higher studies were shattered by the turbulences that occurred in 2017 and forced him to flee into Bangladesh. Despite the challenge of displacement, he has been dedicating his time to doing work in the humanitarian field, working for NGOs and organizations as a junior researcher and trainer to assist individuals in his area. He thinks of his passion for journalism and research—which he sees not simply just as a vocation—as a means to bring voice to the Rohingya and other vulnerable communities. He believes that truth is transformational, and through his work, he tries his best to report on his people’s struggles, resilience, and aspirations. His aspiration is to contribute to a world in which the displaced are not merely perceived as victims, but as persons who have histories and rights that must be claimed. He was one of the junior researcher from 2023 Myanmar Borderland Research and Mentoring workshop. The present contribution is the first one of a three-part series.
The sudden suspension of activities under USAID funding in Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, has plunged the refugee population into a severe humanitarian crisis. The suspension of funding in important sectors like health, nutrition, and livelihood has left thousands struggling for survival. Not only are the refugee communities bearing the catastrophic implications of job losses and collapse of the health systems but also groups of humanitarian workers, who are themselves usually part of the refugee population. This context sees a mounting uncertainty of what the future holds.
The news of the funding freeze first came out on February 12, 2025, when some of the NGOs in the camps openly announced that they were shutting down or reducing operations due to poor funding flows. The news quickly spread out among the refugees as soon as humanitarian personnel and volunteers began losing their jobs. All communication channels, whether through humanitarian officers' and NGO personnel's statements within the camps, foreign and national press releases, informal channels among the refugee communities, and the web pages run by
NGOs and advocacy organizations for their public outreach, all confirmed the news.
A Community in Crisis with Massive Job Losses
Those most directly impacted by the USAID reduction in funds are the groups of volunteers and humanitarian workers who have played a crucial role among the refugee communities. One such humanitarian worker is Junaid, who previously worked at the GK Nutrition Center before serving with ‘A Resilient Society’ (ARS) project. This project, initiated by USAID and undertaken by the Centre for Peace and Justice, endeavored to facilitate social cohesion as well as peace and harmony within the Rohingya refugee community. Junaid explained:
"I worked with ARS because I was sure that, through this project, I could prepare our Rohingya students to coexist peacefully in our society. I was so passionate about it. But I only worked for three months before the project was suspended following the USAID funding cuts. Now, I am not
even permitted to return to my former job at GK Nutrition Center because they already hired someone else in my place. I am jobless and there are many like me."
The shutdown of the ARS project has resulted in more than 24 volunteers losing their jobs; some of them are from the host [Bangladeshi] community. There are limited job opportunities in the camps and the urban settlements of the host communities, and most people have now uncertain futures.
Limited Opportunities for Rohingya Students Beyond Online Schooling
Since the cut-off of the USAID funding, all young Rohingya people are constrained to live with strict limitations on access to vocational training, education, and work opportunities. Online school was one of the few options to acquire knowledge before the suspension of the funding. Until that time, young people had acquired knowledge on research, political science, human rights, and vocational training, and even the prospect of a job at graduation. But with online
classes shut now, these meager options are dwindling even further. Among the young Rohingya men who seriously tried online study was Kyaw Myint. He was accepted to an institute to pursue a political science program. The course offer was certainly challenging but it did offer a great opportunity for professional development after graduation. But after four months of online study, he had to quit the course with much disappointment when suspension of USAID funds became official. He explained,
A Future Without Prospects?
"I was counting on it. My dream was to pursue political science, and I was certain that there would be employment available upon graduation. And then, after months of sweat and labor, the program is terminated. And then I am lost."
His situation is not exceptional. Most of the young Rohingyas who have been relying on online studies to study, learn skills, and trying to make the most of all these opportunities are now stranded, with options for further development no longer much available.
What are the remaining options?
Apart from online studies and virtual jobs, there are limited options for young Rohingyas. The first option is to volunteer and teach: some teenagers do this in communityoperated schools of instruction, teaching elementary school-level work to younger pupils.
The work, however, is unpaid and not officially recognized. The second option is to support religious education at Madrasa (Islamic schools) which are among the few organized alternatives to education but participating in their programs does not help young Rohingyas much develop their skills for future employment opportunities. The third option is to enroll at vocational training programs: until recently, teenagers could receive training in tailoring, carpentry, and computer literacy, sometimes at a fee. These training opportunities, however, were cut off with the recent budget cuts.
The disintegration of USAID-supported programs has denied a whole generation of young Rohingya citizens direct access to education, secured livelihood, and personal development. Many are at risk of further falling into poverty, abuse, or destitution. Not only are young adults as Kyaw Myint locked out of all kinds of educational and professional prospects, but so is the whole Rohingya community regardless of age and gender since the current situation will lead to fewer young adults possessing the training and education necessary to advocate for their rights, assisting in their family's well-being, or performing useful roles as citizens. Unless work programs and education programs or other sources of funding resume, the aspirations and goals of Rohingya young people will remain unfulfilled, perpetuating the crisis in the camps.
A Health System in Shambles
The USAID funding cuts has decimated health care services in the Rohingya camps. Many NGOs, including health sector service providers like BRAC, were forced to cut or discontinue operations. Fully staffed medical facilities are now barely operational, with refugees left without support for healthcare. Before the cut-off of USAID funding, refugees could typically rely on two to three medical clinics in their immediate surroundings,
Pic. 2: An elderly Rohingya watching kids play. Photo credit: Ahmmed Sukanu
Pic. 1: A boy and an old man in my neighborhood. Photo credit: Ahmmed Sukanu.
clinics that are operated by national and international NGOs. Clinics have typically provided:
• General medical care for common illnesses and minor injuries.
• Maternal and child health, pregnancy check-ups, delivery services, and baby nutrition programs.
• Referral service for emergency cases requiring specialized medical treatment in Bangladeshi hospitals.
• Psychological counseling to victims of trauma and survivors of past violence.
While no clinics that I know of have shut down completely, their operations have been cut back drastically due to the funding shortage. Some have cut down on working hours, halted the dispensing of free drugs, or halted emergency referrals. The impact on patients has been enormous. For example, Camp 1-East resident, Hasina Begum, has been suffering from a tumor for three months. She had been hoping to get treatment from BRAC, which used to refer patients with complex health conditions to Bangladesh's private hospitals. But upon visiting one of these hospitals, she was sent back. Hasima Begun explained,
A Looming Nutritional Emergency
The freeze also put at risk important nutrition programs. Nutrition assistance programs give life-saving nutrition to tens of thousands of Rohingya children, and these too are under threat. Until now, the usual rations provided to
Up to now, the aid suspension has not led to a reduced the number of food rations that go directly to refugees. Families are still receiving their shares. But it has significantly affected availability of goods and diversity of food products because most of the individuals have lost their livelihoods and jobs. Without cash to buy foods like vegetables, protein, and milk products, families are surviving on plain rations only, which means a worsening diet.
"I battled my tumor for three months. I visited BRAC so that I could get treated, but they told, 'Sorry, we don't have the budget to send you to private hospitals in Bangladesh where you will get proper treatment.' I had no choice but to sell my own things so that I could pay for my treatment."
Other organizations such as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and BRAC remain functional but are under strain due to increased demand. With no money to treat complicated medical cases, a vast number of patients are denied life-saving care.
refugees have not been cut and regular servings are still delivered to families. But with economic recession looming and employment lost among many community members in the aftermath of the funding freeze, other nutritious foods such as vegetables, proteins, and dairy will be out of reach for most families.
Those most affected by the funding freeze are pregnant women and children who depend on the nutrition centers to access supplements such as energydense biscuits, therapeutic milk, micronutrient supplements. These nutrition centers perform a very crucial function to prevent malnutrition, especially in children below the age of five. Parents strongly believe that, if these centers shut because of the funding situation, the health of their children will suffer enormously. Ayas, a Camp 3 volunteer for Action Against Hunger (ACF), worried about the fate of the nutrition programs in the camps. He said,
"We don't know when our project will be closed because of the cut-off of USAID funding. Our managers advised us to look for another job because they do not know whether we will be given additional funding to work again."
Although most of my family and many other families around us continue to rely on three meals daily, the quality and nutritional value of food have declined, and some families are struggling to get by. Economic adversity has forced some households to consume less food or go without food when they are not able to stretch their resources any more to acquire additional food beyond the rations. If the financial freeze is not lifted or donors others than USAID do not fill the gap, the situation will further deteriorate, exposing thousands of refugees, children mostly, to hunger and malnutrition.
The Broader Impact on NGOs and Aid Initiatives
Uncertainty over the USAID freeze means most NGOs have no choice but to think of alternative plans and seek alternative sources of funding. Programs that provided core services—health and education through psychosocial support—are closing or drastically cutting back.
The impact is both experienced by the refugees and the host community, who have relied on the jobs provided by humanitarian organizations. Loss of jobs and reduced services among both communities may also lead to social tensions between them. The host communities, while benefiting from the economic gains generated by years of funding in the humanitarian sector, also began to experience local resource pressure. As
Pic. 3: A Rohingya man rebuilding his shelter after it burnt down. Photo credit: Ahmmed Sukanu
for the Government of Bangladesh, it has responded to suspension of USAID projects by recognizing its impact but so far hasn’t taken any steps toward trying to fill the funding gap. Government officials have called on the global community to fill the funding gap. Some argue that Bangladesh alone should not be expected to carry the weight of the assistance to Rohingya communities and that donor countries must act. To date, however, no emergency policy action or new funding mechanism was proposed by the Bangladeshi government to respond to the deteriorating crisis.
A Call to Action
USAID funding cuts have denied thousands from their basic rights and contributed to aggravate an existing humanitarian catastrophe. Denial of livelihood, healthcare, and nutrition is making refugees even more vulnerable. Drastic steps need
to be taken to fight this crisis. The world must step up to the plate and fill USAID's budget gap. Governments, NGOs, and private donors need to mobilize resources. If not, there will be further suffering and instability in Rohingya camps. Junaid, Hasina Begum, Kyaw Myint and Ayas' accounts are a reminder of the human costs of these budget cuts. Their stories are a reminder that Rohingya refugees need continued support as well as committed humanitarians to help them. Will the world be able to respond in time to avert additional suffering, or will the Rohingya once again be left to ride out a crisis by themselves?
Views from the Ground
Military Conscription and Responses of Post-Secondary Community
Schools
The Inya Institute surveyed four post secondary community schools to understand how they have been navigating the challenges related to the conscription law promulgated last year. The community schools under review Level Up College (LUC), Pinnya Tagar Academy (PTA), Cherry Myay Academy (CMA), and Tounge La’Yat Community CollegeEducation Gathering Group (EGG) are located in Karenni, Kachin, Shan, and Kayin States and have been offering alternative education for youths in Myanmar for many years. Despite dire conditions and due to ongoing armed conflicts and
the recruitment of new soldiers after the promulgation of the conscription law in February 2024, all four colleges are able to run courses and currently discussing plans to turn into bachelor-degree granting community colleges.
While all four colleges have been facing a wide range of similar challenges, some of them have endured more specific circumstances. This is the case of LUC in the Karenni State which was caught in the middle of armed conflicts between the Myanmar army and Karenni ethnic armed groups in 2024 in Loikaw and had to leave the city and relocate at the
border of Shan and Karenni states. While relocating, most teaching and learning materials had to be left behind. LUC is now resuming diploma courses in Hseebu, Shan State, an area that the military regime does not control at this moment. Another example is PTA, formerly located in the outskirts of Myitkyina, Kachin State, which, in addition to armed conflicts in the area, experiences dramatic floods in mid 2024. The flooding damaged many buildings in the compound and some renovation and the building of new structures on higher ground are now underway with a very limited budget.
Pic. 4: A Rohingya boy scavenging debris. Photo credit: Ahmmed Sukanu
LUC and PTA have been also facing more difficulties due to security risks related to their staff and students in the wake of the promulgation of the conscription law.
Intake of New Students and Student Program Completion Rates Before & After the Promulgation of the Conscription Law
This section describes the changes in the number of applicants and enrolled students before and after the conscription law. Regarding the students’ intake, three colleges–EGG, CMA, and PTA–have witnessed a similar pattern. The registration of new students in these three colleges decreased significantly after the conscription law was announced and activated on February 10, 2024. In terms of gender, the number of male applicants was only one third of the total of applicants for the new batch in 2025. The PTA teacher interviewed during the survey explained how this slump of intake of new students affected the student selection process in the following terms,
“Receiving only a few applications, it was hard [for PTA] to select students who meet our admission criteria. As a result, the students were at different levels, especially in English, and, conversely, it may affect the teaching process.”
the fact that, regardless of the challenges and limitations in the student recruitment process, they selected the number of students in accordance with the new students recruitment policy. [Note: Number of admitted students can be different across colleges but the average number of admitted students is between 30 and 40 per year]. So, the number of students attending and completing the course remains constant even after the promulgation of the conscription law, with the exemption of a very few students dropping out due to security concerns security from their families.
Students’ Mental Health & College Support
the students’ learning process and that students now feel even more insecure and unmotivated after the military starts recruiting new soldiers across Myanmar. The LUC teacher explained the situation as follows,
“Students were joking that, instead of serving in the military government, they would rather serve in their own ethnic armed forces. After reading in the news about countless people being kidnapped by the military, not only are they aware that the conscription law is being effectively enforced but they are feeling frightened for their safety. And so are their teachers too. We therefore warn the students not to go anywhere, except to areas that are deemed safe.”
However, the number of applicants for the 2025 batch at LUC increased significantly. There were 239 applicants for this batch, a 32% increase from the preceding batch. LUC’s interviewee explained this as follows,
“Now, the college is located in an area that is controlled by one of the ethnic armed groups. I guess our college will become a first choice for students who do not dare to go and attend the [government] colleges in downtown areas and want to pursue an alternative education.”
Regarding the attendance rate and drop-out rate, all four colleges shared
When the conscription law was promulgated, LUC and PTA students did not show any panic according to the teachers interviewed. This contrasted with EGG and CMA students who started feeling anxious after the law promulgation. Many students there raised questions to the school administration regarding the college’s contingency plan for students’ security. To answer the students’ and their families’ concerns, both colleges organized parent-teacher meetings/webinars informing them about the college’s plan to collaborate with local authorities (eg. administrators) and provide students with psychosocial support. While students reacted differently between colleges in relation to local conditions, as reported by the teachers interviewed, it was generally admitted that the conscription law has affected
Regarding mental health support, all four colleges have started counselling sessions since the military coup but have done so following different approaches. PTA has added the subject ‘Well-being’ to the existing curriculum since the COVID-19 pandemic with the help of teachers who received a Training of Trainers’ certificate from GAIA Organization. This comes in addition to a coaching program that PTA started in 2012. This program and what was added to the curriculum play a major role in helping students with mental health issues at this difficult time. The PTA teacher mentioned,
“We have coaching programs to address mental issues. Even during casual conversations, we supportively say:‘No matter how difficult your circumstances are, the fact that you have chosen to come here and committed to learning with us means this present moment deserves your full value and effort.’”
According to the PTA teacher who insisted that students’ performance and motivation are bound together, the teachers consistently support students’ well-being and, through this proactive approach, have ensured that no severe or sudden decline in results happens.
Pic. 1: Teaching class at EGG Academy
Meanwhile, EGG provides mental health support to students and does so by collaborating with partner organizations. Particularly, teachers keep communicating with students and advising them on how to build resilience in their learning journey and develop effective strategies. Regarding this, the EGG teacher explained,
“Based on the local context and the specific challenges we face, the difficulties they encounter create one type of impact, while the ongoing economic crisis presents another separate layer of struggle. These combined pressures significantly affect students’ mental well-being. Students’ primary concerns are related to their community environments, family situations, and personal security issues. Depending on their specific situations, they engage in peer discussions and counseling sessions. There are also ongoing support exchanges between students and teachers. These interventions are tailored to address the particular challenges they are currently facing.”
Like EGG, CMA has hosted training sessions on mental health and mental wellbeing since Batch 6 & 7. Students complete psychological assessment tests and can access individual counseling. Both students and teachers have participated in UNESCO-sponsored Psychosocial Support programs. Unlike their colleagues at the three other colleges, LUC students experienced serious mental health issues due to firsthand experience of armed conflict. They had to flee the conflict zone and this led to severe emotional trauma. The entire college community, including students, teachers, and staff has become a group of internally displaced persons (IDPs) which is now facing long-term challenges. The LUC teacher told the following,
daily necessities. If they are not able to meet these basic needs, they will also no longer have the capacity to seek out other resources that could help them improve their lives. Though not directly in conflict zones, the lives [of our students] have been shattered by the ripple effects of war. The consequences of poverty faced by these families are now overwhelmingly visible among our students.”
To support the well-being of students in this situation, there are a variety of clubs for students such as drawing, music, sports, etc. to help students relieve their stress. LUC has one or two teachers who received training in basic counseling skills and psychosocial support tools. For most teachers, it’s unsure whether
for meeting the needs of the schools and staff members have to take on multiple roles. This strategy ensures that the three colleges are administered relatively well. A PTA teacher explained the current staff shortage and the necessity for staff members to take on multiple roles as follows,
“Teachers have to manage all the boarding responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning and also livestock etc for the sixty students staying in the campus. There is still no solution for this issue of staff members taking on multiple roles since the budget is also constrained. Our donors believe that the current number of teachers is enough to manage all 60 students.”
they truly have the skills to guide proper counseling sessions. Therefore, teachers may not be able to provide professional level counseling for students with serious needs at this time. As external professional services are too expensive, LUC is not able to cover this kind of expenses even though it shows willingness to address mental health issues.
Challenges in Teaching and College Administration since the Coup
“When families are forced to flee their homes, their economic stability collapses. The constant instability means parents can no longer support their children’s education. Our students are in desperate need as they struggle for food, water, and other
Three colleges–EGG, CMA, and PTA–confirmed that the number of staff has remained constant, even after the promulgation of the conscription law: some teaching staff members fall into the age groups that are currently being conscripted. Overall, however, the number of teaching staff is not adequate
While the number of staff members at the three colleges is stable, the number of LUC staff has slightly increased in the departments of administration, finance and logistics, and social works associated with humanitarian aid and extracurricular activities. As the college is now relocated to an area where armed conflict is relatively far away, it has become a refuge for IDPs.
In addition to the administrative and operational challenges linked to the inadequate number of staff, all colleges have been facing challenges for curricular and extracurricular activities since 2021. Two colleges–EGG and CMA–reduced outside activities such as service-learning and internship due to difficulties in transportation, curfew, and more specifically, the conscription law. According to the CMA teacher,
“There were 10 outside activities related to the subject in the past, now we have reduced them to only 5 outside activities. There are limited options for the internship [offered to students] at organizations and within communities; but it is still fine if the students want to take an internship within the community.”
The conscription law cannot be enforced in the area where LUC is located at the present time and therefore does not impact the students’ prospects for
Pic. 2: Student exchange program activies at LUC
pursuing internship. However, LUC and the students in this area have to be aware of the potential of air strikes during the internship period. The teacher explained,
“We cannot know when the military will bomb this area or attack through air strike. All we can do now is to teach the students how to protect themselves when they experience powerful weapons such as artillery or aerial bombs.”
In terms of curriculum, the representatives interviewed mentioned that three out of four colleges have not removed any contents from the current curriculum. Some have even added new contents to the curriculum. Only PTA has removed some curricula associated with ethical leadership for a term during the period when armed conflict was raging nearby. At that time, all the documents and course books concerning politics were kept safely hidden from any possible visit from local authorities. The PTA teacher explained,
“We stopped teaching ethical leadership for a while, maybe for a term, while the conflict was becoming forceful. We did not experience any direct attacks; but we heard rumors about [local authorities] checking documents at [educational] organizations from Myitkyina.”
“Currently, we have started the reconstruction phase and three buildings are now ready for use and teaching can be provided there. However, it does not mean that reconstruction is complete. All the reconstruction we started after the flood was done through loans since the donor supported only a very limited budget for the renovation.[...] All the rebuilt facilities are made of bricks. We prioritize the building of structures protecting from the wind and rain.”
On 30 June 2024, Northern Myanmar, particularly Kachin State, was affected by heavy rainfall, leading to floods and river overflows. PTA was also affected by this devastating flood and nearly all buildings were destroyed. The PTA teacher explained the extent of the damages as follows,
“Our college buildings are mud houses and a total of eight buildings were destroyed including two dorms for the students, three class buildings, a hall, an office building with a computer room, and a library.”
Since then, PTA has started building new constructions and the PTA representative mentioned that,
Additionally, there was a water shortage in the summer. In the past, students and teachers used to go to the village and get water supply there. Now, the military has established some checkpoints at the gate of the village; therefore, no one can go there easily as mentioned by the PTA teacher,
“The college location is close to the Ayeyawaddi River and there are gold mines. We have to dig so deeply to get the water. There are many bedrocks within the solid layers. We have already tried to dig another well but it did not work. So, we currently rely on the old well only. We have to think about how to solve the issue for the coming summer.”
In Karenni State, LUC experienced a terrible and life-threatening situation. The school administrator, teachers, and students all fled from the Loikaw when armed conflict started there in 2024. They left everything concerning the office such as computers and teaching materials. After they ran away from Loikaw, the military set up a military camp there. As a consequence, they could only get the books and desks. The college has now moved to Hseebu. With the agreement and help of the land owner, LUC has been able to build new structures and teaching and LUC operations have resumed. Since Hseebu is a safe zone at the moment, there are many refugees. The new campus space accommodates all the staff and 50 students but it can’t provide enough water and electricity for all of them. Therefore, around 20 students are staying outside of the campus. For those students, the college provides a partial scholarship that includes a small amount of money but it cannot cover the living expenses. Apart from the partial scholarship, the college may also be able to support those who cannot afford to give the full fees. Since most of the students are refugees, all have much difficulty with their family situation, including the financial support for their education.
All these ongoing difficult circumstances have not diminished the determination of the school administrators and teaching teams to provide their students with high-quality education and unwavering support. The four post-secondary community schools have emerged from these circumstances as a relevant alternative to government institutions and promising pathway to a better future for their students.
Survey conducted and contribution written by Thin Thin Thar and Shun Lay Pyae Sone who wish to thank the schools administrators and their teaching team for their assistance.
Pic. 2: Artistic expression class at LUC
New Interns at Inya
Join us in welcoming our three new interns Mary, Thandar Lin, and Swam Pyae! All three interns are collaborating with Ms. Pyae Phyoe Myint, our Education and Training Manager, for the development of our short-term course focused on problem-solving skills. We hope to launch the course in early July. Throughout their internship running until the end of July 2025, they will develop their skills as future educators and gain valuable experience. We will also encourage them to share the learning materials and outcomes from this initiative within their networks and communities.
My name is Niang Mary Aung @ Mary and I am 21 years old. I am originally from a small town called Cikha in the northernmost part of Chin State. In early March 2025, I joined the Inya Institute as an intern to assist the Education and Training Manager in developing the curriculum for a course on problem solving skills. I have also started my first year of the Liberal Arts Program which is offered online by the Myanmar Institute of Theology.
I finished my high school in 2020 from YCW private high school in Kale, Sagaing Region. However, because of the Covid-19 pandemic and the military coup of 2021, I could not enroll at the university as initially planned. I went back to my hometown for about two years and from there volunteered in many different places across the Chin state by teaching basic English and the language’s four skills. I also taught critical thinking as I recognize the lack of consistency in the national education programs. Unfortunately, as my hometown is not located in a developed area, it is not easy for students to pursue further education and professional development. So I decided to move to Yangon to restart my education journey. In 2023, I started an English language course at the Campion Institute and made progress from elementary to advanced level. While studying English, I also completed a teacher training course in March, 2024. As soon as I finished the training, I served as a volunteer English teacher in Nguchaung village, Ayeyarwaddy Region, for one month which was organized by the Campion Institute. After that, I studied hospitality management training at the SISU vocational training school for six months and did part time banquet waiter in different hotels in Yangon. The internship at Inya offers me an amazing opportunity and also help me develop my problem-solving and analytical skills. I hope to expand my knowledge and learn new experiences while interning at Inya. During this five-month journey, I will try my best for the project and be an active member of the team.
I am Thandar Lin and originally from Bhamo, Kachin State. I am currently living in Yangon. In 2018, I passed my matriculation exam in economics with distinction. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, my interest shifted to physics which became the major I pursued at Bhamo University. Soon after the military coup, I joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM). Learning more about economics has been the greatest motivation for me throughout these years. However, the basic knowledge of economics that I gained as a specialized subject during my school years in Grade-9 and Grade-10 was not sufficient to satisfy my curiosity. I further explored economics from the internet and developed ideas about supporting sustainable development through the economic sector and promoting broader economic literacy among people in the countryside. Meanwhile, I joined a program on macroeconomics at Handong Global University, Korea, and also had an opportunity to join the Youth Economic Development Capacity Building Training held at Naushawng Development Institute (NDI) in Myitkyina, a workshop fully funded by the European Union. Now, I am volunteering as a taskforce member at U-Report Myanmar, a free youth participation and social monitoring tool for young people in Myanmar developed by UNICEF. From my current internship experience, I aim to learn how to develop a curriculum for a training course which will be really valuable when I, in turn, provide teenagers and young adult learners in my region with training. I will also acquire knowledge about problem-solving skills. Presently, many young people in Myanmar face challenges related to their physical and mental health. Problem-solving skills can play a critical role in addressing day-to-day issues impacting young people. I have already witnessed for myself how beneficial such curricula and training can be for young people and how they can help them gain confidence in their path toward adulthood and support their communities toward some sustainable development. This is why I am so glad to be pursuing this internship at the Inya Institute.
New Interns at Inya
I am Swam Pyae, a 22-year-old and avid learner. I am currently working at the Inya Institute as an intern, remotely assisting the institute’s team in developing a course on problem-solving skills and analytical thinking. My responsibilities include researching and analyzing articles on analytical skills, reasoning, logical thinking, and problem-solving. I also collaborate with my two fellow interns, and together we prepare groundwork for the Education and Training Manager. Since the beginning of this internship, I have noticed significant improvements in my analytical skills, research abilities, and presentation skills.
Six years ago, I was a student at Yangon University of Education but my education was disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the current political situation. Despite these challenges, I have actively pursued opportunities for both my personal and professional development. Aside from my internship at the institute, I have also been actively engaged in collaborating with community-based organizations. Around two years ago, I volunteered part-time as a teacher for Essential Skills for Youths (ESY) at Pyitsimaryone Monastic High School in Mawlamyaing, Mon State. Since that time, I have been deeply committed to fostering the growth of children in my community and beyond, and creating meaningful, lasting impacts on their education.
Additionally, in my free time, I work as a part-time English teacher and strive to enhance my teaching skills. The knowledge, organizational skills, and training experiences that I am gaining from my internship at the institute will no doubt prove valuable in my efforts to become a better educator. I also look forward to contributing to our team by helping develop the course curriculum that aligns with the institute’s core mission.
Annual Membership
Membership of the Inya Institute is now available for Institutions as well as Individuals!
Despite Myanmar’s current multidimensional crisis, the Inya Institute continues to operate in Yangon providing educational and training opportunities to Myanmar students, supporting scholarship by Myanmar and International researchers in Myanmar and in third countries, and offering language learning opportunities for those interested in Myanmar’s linguistic diversity. It is also one of the few libraries currently open to the public in Yangon. Interconnectedness between Myanmar, the U.S., the Myanmar diaspora in the U.S. and elsewhere is more important than ever and the institute is keen to support this value as shown by its activities listed above. You can be part of this so please consider becoming a member of the Inya Institute! Contact us at: contact@inyainstitute.org
I NSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
Any recognized academic or educational institution in the United States or Canada may become an Institutional Member of the institute. If a representative of an institutional member chooses to send a delegate to serve on the board of directors, he/she has an opportunity to shape the institute’s programs and activities.
Other benefits include: (1) Recognition of institutional member status in the institute’s quarterly newsletter; (2) Publishing of members’ scholarly events in the institute’s quarterly newsletter; (3) Invitation to join online events, including conferences and webinars, organized by the institute.
Annual institutional membership dues are $400.
I NDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP
Anyone may become an Individual Member of the institute, upon application and acceptance by the institute.
Benefits: (1) Inclusion in the institute’s listserv of those institutions and individuals receiving the quarterly’s newsletter; (2) Invitation to join online events, including conferences or webinars, organized by the institute; (3) Reduced fees for the language learning opportunities developed by the institute.
Annual individual membership dues are $25.
Upcoming Events across the U.S. and beyond
April Events
1. Getting Buddhas and Bodhisattvas “Right”: Magnificence, Aesthetic Hierarchy, and Transnational Buddhist Craftsmanship across the Myanmar-China Border
Location: IEAS Conference Room, Institute of East Asian Studies, UCBerkeley (in-person event)
Date: 10 April, 5:00-6:30 PM (PT)
Speaker: Beyin Deng
This study explores the encounters between Chinese workshop owners and Burmese Buddhist artisans in the trade of marble Buddhist images (Ch. miandian yufo) across the Myanmar-China border. By examining this transnational trade network, which emerged in response to the burgeoning market for Buddhist images in China and the regional economic integration between China and Southeast Asia, it illuminates the often-neglected material and transnational dimensions of the post-Mao Buddhist resurgence. This study begins by delineating the development of this transnational trade network, which has facilitated not only the flows of materials and images but also the migration of Buddhist labor from Myanmar to China since the early 1990s. It then examines how Chinese workshop owners conceptualize a specific type of magnificence (Ch. zhuangyan) associated with marble Buddhist images, illuminating how they position themselves in the market and how they understand the production of magnificence as a process of continuous negotiation with Burmese Buddhist artisans. Finally, this study analyzes how Chinese workshop owners evaluate the skills of Burmese Buddhist artisans both economically—as migrant labor across the border—and aesthetically—as practitioners of a tradition distinct from Han-Chinese Buddhism. This analysis thus uncovers an aesthetic hierarchy of Buddhist artistic traditions shaped by the interplay between market forces, labor practices, cultural exchange, and artistic evaluation.
More info here.
2. Fact Checking in Low-Resource Languages: A New Dataset and Transformer Model for the Burmese Language
Location: York University (CSEAS Friday Lecture Series)
Date: 14 April, 12:00-1:00 PM (ET)
Speaker: Win Moe
Misinformation on Burmese social media is a serious problem, fueling hate speech and violence, especially during the 2017 Rohingya genocide. Despite efforts by platforms like Facebook to restrain harmful content using Burmese-speaking moderators and some automatic tools, a limited number of moderators working for these platforms are often overwhelmed by the amount of content to be fact checked. The goal of this research is to leverage AI and machine learning to create automatic fact checking tools to assist human moderators. The challenge we encountered is the lack of training data and effective machine learning models. This research presents a crucial first step toward creating datasets and tools for fact checking in Burmese and other low resource languages to combat misinformation online. More info here.
3. The State of Myanmar Youth Activism since the 2021 Military Coup Location: International Institute for Asian Studies
Date: 24 April, 11:15am-12:15 PM (CET)
Speaker: Maaike Matelski
Compared to previous waves of activism against military rule, the Spring Revolution that emerged after the coup of February 2021 is characterized by a broader group of participants, with different societal groups and ethnicities united against a common enemy. It has also been characterized by a militarization of resistance beyond the ethnic armed organizations (EAOs) that operate mostly in the border areas. Since the latest coup, Myanmar youth in particular are more determined than ever not to revert back to the situation before the political transition period of the 2010s, during which they experienced more liberties and opportunities. Facing an increasingly violent military response, many youth have resorted to armed resistance, with former student activists now fighting in a mosaic of armed groups under different banners and with sometimes diverging goals. Based on interviews with young activists conducted in the last six months, this presentation will sketch the dilemmas facing Myanmar
youth who have been deprived of their newly found opportunities while continuing to be subdued by politically vocal older generations, yet remain determined to continue their struggle. What options for agency remain available to them in the face of waning international support, lack of socio-economic opportunities and the threat of forced conscription, and what ideologies do they adhere to in their resistance efforts?
More info here
May Events
1. Social Media’s Algorithmic Affordances for Authoritarian Repression in Myanmar
Location: LSE Cheng Kin Ku Building, The London School of Economics and Political Science
Date: 7 May, 12:00-1:15 PM (CET)
Speaker: Mai Van Tran
The talk draws upon a co-authored study that scrutinises the extent to which the algorithmic curation, moderation, and design by social media platforms might facilitate cross-platform authoritarian repression, with evidence from conflictridden Myanmar. The focus is on Myanmar’s military administration SAC, which has orchestrated repression across three main platforms: Telegram, Facebook, and TikTok. Based on a list of prominent pro-SAC accounts and keywords, the study captured more than 1 million public social media posts during February 2021- February 2024. With a supervised machine learning approach, the authors develop novel logistic regression and Large Language Model classifiers for four types of authoritarian content based on a random sample of 6,000 labelled posts. The research highlights the oft-neglected user experiences with tech-enabled repression in the Global South. The findings will also deepen our understanding of autocrats’ industrial innovations in an age of algorithmic platforms.
More info here
New Books On Myanmar
Children Affected by Armed Conflict in the Borderlands of Myanmar: 2021 and Beyond
Kai Chen
Springer Singapore, 2024
This book focuses on children affected by armed conflict in the borderlands of Myanmar since the regime-change event in 2021. In the borderlands of this country, uncountable children have been killed or maimed by indiscriminate weapons, raids, artillery bombardments and air strikes. Concerning the Burmese children living in the rest of Myanmar, they have been exposed to feelings of insecurity and growing anxieties caused by deadly bombings and assassinations. No place in Myanmar is immune from armed conflict. Many displaced Burmese children fled into the neighboring countries, which did not ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention. With no refugee status, some displaced children faced the risk of being arrested and deported. Some displaced children became victims of human trafficking, or led a life of vagrancy. The stakeholders responsible for protecting children from armed conflict, have been promoting Myanmar towards reconciliation in their own ways. However, the stakeholders had to deal with three obstacles, that is, lack of consensus, insufficient cohesion and funding gap. When a national ceasefire is unavailable in Myanmar, the conflicting parties would probably welcome a humanitarian ceasefire in the borderlands of this country, rather than wearing each other out. In the case of Myanmar, a humanitarian ceasefire should be composed of three parts: immediate access to victims of armed conflict, safe passage of civilians, and release of detainees in batches. If everything goes well, an agreement for a humanitarian ceasefire in the borderlands of Myanmar, would be followed with peace talks in the foreseeable future.
Pursuing Morality: Buddhism and Everyday Ethics in Southeastern Myanmar
Justine
Chambers
NUS Press Singapore, 2024
Pursuing Morality is an in-depth and fascinating study of ordinary life in Myanmar’s southeast through a unique ethnographic focus on Buddhist Plong (Pwo) Karen. Based on extensive indepth fieldwork in the small city of Hpaan, the capital of Karen State, Chambers shines new light on Plong Buddhists’ lives and the multiple ways they broker, traverse, enact, cultivate, defend and pursue moral lives.
This is the first ethnographic study of Myanmar to add to a growing body of anthropological scholarship that is referred to as the “moral turn”. Each chapter examines the lives of Plong Buddhists from different vantage points, calling into question many assumptions about Southeast Asian values and the nature of Buddhist Theravāda practice. Critiquing the notion that moral coherence is necessary for ethical selfhood, Chambers demonstrates how the pursuit of morality is varied, performative and embedded in an affective notion of the self as a moral agent, in a relationship with wider structural political forces. This vivid account of everyday life will engage readers interested in Myanmar, Buddhism, and moral anthropology, offering a deeply human portrait about an area of the world that remains largely defined by conflict and now military dictatorship.
Unconventional Warfare: Small Wars and Insurgencies in the India-Myanmar Borderland (1914–1945)
Pum Khan Pau
Routledge India, 2025
The book probes the lesser-known history of the Great Wars in the India-Myanmar borderland from the perspective of the indigenous people of the area. It critically studies how the indigenous hill people saw the Wars as an opportunity to defend their land and free themselves from the bondage of colonial rule. The volume provides an in-depth analysis of the effectiveness of unconventional warfare during the First and Second World Wars, where conventional methods of fighting seemed to be irrelevant in the mountainous Indo-Burma frontier, and studies the role played by the indigenous hill people who had traditional expertise in jungle warfare.
An important contribution to indigenous studies, this book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of history, Northeast India, frontier studies, military history, insurgency and counterinsurgency, colonialism, tribal studies, and the history of modern Southeast Asia.