Power Dynamics of Language and Education Policy in Myanmar’s Contested Transition

This article examines the development of education policy in Myanmar/Burma, at a period of 'critical juncture' (Sontag and Cardinal 2015). We question to what extent ethnic community voices are represented in education policy debates within Myanmar’s reform process. There are two major strands to this article, regarding policy process and stakeholder voices. We bring these two aspects together by analysing the views of different stakeholders within the policy process. The originality of our work is based on the fact that we have accessed both ethnic stakeholders in their communities by travelling to remote and difficult to access locations including conflict affected areas, as well as interviewing ethnic leaders and policy stakeholders. The article is based on data collected in interviews and focus groups with over 500 respondents between 2011 and 2016 in Myanmar. Using the 'context of influence' framework developed in Bowe and Ball's policy cycle (1992), we argue that powerful actors such as the government and international agencies frame policy in ways which often exclude the concerns and aspirations of education users (citizens, communities). Community Based Organisations/Non-Government Organisations, political parties and armed groups purport to represent local communities, and often end up mediating the relationship between international and government authority and finance, and communities on the ground. However, there are often significant gaps between their positions and the realities of 'ordinary' citizens, leading to the former sometimes being positioned as gatekeepers, or patrons. Such issues are of particular concern, given the importance of education and language as key elements of ethnic stakeholders' identities and interests, in relation to the ongoing and still deeply contested peace process. As a result opportunities opened by the critical juncture in the reform process are being missed.