The Nationalization of Education in Burma: A Radical Response to the Capitalist Development?

This paper examines, within a framework of the world-system analysis, the process of the nationalization of education in Burma. As a significant part of the nationalist-socialist revolution launched to undermine foreign influences on the Burmese society in 1962, all schools in the country were nationalized and the curriculum "Burmanized." The paper describes the events leading up to the nationalization of schooling in Burma under General Ne Win's government (1962-88) as well as the deeper socio-cultural and historical factors that played a crucial role in the Burmese military regime's decision to nationalize schooling and knowledge. In particular, the paper examines whether Burma's nationalization policies entailed a radical response to capitalist development. A conclusion is that although the nationalization measures appear to be radical because of their inward-looking and isolationist nature, they were not very radical. It is true that they were taken as part of the revolution with the purpose of minimizing the influence of, and gradually severing the ties with, the capitalist world. However, paradoxically, they were carried out within the framework of the dominant paradigm of modernization, the ideology of which was spread with the development of capitalism. Furthermore, the concept of the nation-state was strictly adhered to by the nationalist-socialist leaders. (Two crucial concepts in the emergence of capitalist modern world system are the ideology of modernization and the concept of nation-state.) The educated nationalist continues to look for solutions for the country's problems solely within the dominant ideological framework, accepting the viability of the nation-state and modernization. Seen against this contradictory background, there is nothing truly radical about Burma's educational nationalization. Contains over 40 references. (LMI)