Wa in need of better education

_{12 January 2009}
 
The TTBT, together with an American mission, is supporting a Wa primary school in Yinpang, north of Panghsang. The 60-student school also receives rice ration, 10kg per month for each student, 7 months per year, from the UN World Food Program (WFP). “It therefore has to buy rice to feed the children when the ration runs out,” it says.
 
Dr Thein Lwin, 56, head of the TTBT, who has visited the township 3 times since 2004, said the school was managed by local administration. “Due to political instability, the Wa leadership is not paying adequate attention on education,” reads one of his reports. “Because of war, there is a large population of widows and orphans, with infant mortality estimated at 50%.”

The Wa, from 1950-1996, had fought successively in support of the Kuomintang (KMT), Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and Burma Army against the Burma Army and later the Mong Tai Army of Khun Sa.
 
With more funds from donors, the TTBT has plans to expand its operations to other areas, he said. Besides Yinpang, it is also supporting a primary school in the Palaung area, northern Shan State.
 
According to a report by Washington-based East-West Center, quoting Wa figures, the Wa leadership had established 5 middle schools and 240 primary schools by the year 2000. “Not all new school buildings have teachers, and schools often have to be maintained by the villagers themselves,” it says. “Education beyond middle school is non-existent. This is clearly a direct cause of the weak leadership capacity.”
 
Yingpang, meaning the ‘village of Ta Hpawng,’ the name of a Wa prince, is also known as Ving Ngun (Wiang Ngeun). One of Ta Hpawng’s sons was Maha Hsang, leader of the Wa National Army (UWSA) who died in 2007.