NIU Rebuilding Myanmar's Universities-- Part 3: "They Need Everything"

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, Burma had one of the highest literacy rates in Asia and was posed to become a rapidly developing country in the region.

But a military coup in 1962 caused a government intent on an isolationist policy that singled out students and universities as enemies of the junta.

In 1988, there was a violent crackdown and all universities were closed, but reopened in 1990 with a government-controlled curriculum. In 1996, schools were closed for three years.  Things got better in 2010, when elections in the country caused a "quasi-civilian" government to come to power.  But even then, there is still over a half century of isolation that must be overcome.

A Long Way to Go.  --Cooter