The Space for Academic Freedom in Myanmar before and after the 2021 Military Coup
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Academic freedom is particularly vulnerable during times of war. Since the start of the resistance war in Myanmar in 2021, the military has been repressing civil liberties and state surveillance has become entrenched in every aspect of people's lives. Although the military has often faced defeat on the battleground, there is a strong resilience in ideological control—especially within the university. This paper assesses factors limiting academic freedom in Myanmar by analyzing forms of coercion and consent prevailing in the education bureaucracy under the lens of Gramscian State Theory. Following its crackdown on the Civil Disobedience Movement of lecturers and university students, the State Administrative Council is bolstering its ideological influence by utilizing staff training and legal modifications as tools for the state's transmission of ideology. Universities must conform to the state's ideology and fulfill the legal, procedural, and institutional obligations of the ideological state apparatus. This paper employs document analysis, participant observation, and qualitative interviews to identify the constraint factors that hinder academics from exercising their rights in knowledge production while exposing them to legal and structural violations of their civil and political rights. It argues that the Civil Services Personnel Law and associated institutional culture deepen the deprivation of academic freedom. It also suggests that new educational institutions evolving out of resistance need not repeat the history of coercion, while there is a need to heal the damage done to the higher education system by successive military governments that suppressed political consciousness on campus.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The views, opinions, and pictures expressed in this journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and viewpoints of the editor and the editorial board. All rights are reserved by the authors and the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies of Mahidol University. No part of this journal may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission in writing from the journal’s editor, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Non-commercial use of information in this journal must be properly referenced.
References
Altbach, P. G. (2001). Academic freedom: International warning signs. International Higher Education, (24), 2-3. https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2001.24.6938
Althusser, L. (2010). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses (notes towards an investigation) (1970). In I. Szeman & T. Kaposy (Eds.), Cultural theory: An anthology, (pp. 204-222). Wiley-Blackwell.
Aung-Thwin, M. (2021, April 6). Myanmar education reform: Balancing private and public partnerships. The Head Foundation. https://digest.headfoundation.org/2021/04/06/myanmar-education-reform-balancing-private-andpublic-partnerships/
Awng, N. L. S. (2020). Institutionalized inequality in higher education in Kachin State. Naushawng Development Institute. https://naushawng.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/institutionalized-inequalities-in-higher-education-Eng.pdf
Brown, M., & Hung, N. (2022). Higher education in Myanmar. In L. P. Symaco & M. Hayden (Eds.), International handbook on education in South-East Asia (pp. 1-25). Springer Nature Singapore.
Butler, J. (2017). Academic freedom and the critical task of the university. Globalizations, 14(6), 857-861. https://doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2017.1325168
Caston, G. (1989). Academic freedom: The third world context. Oxford Review of Education, 15(3), 305-338. https://doi.org/10.1080/0305498890150310
CHINLONE. (2018). Myanmar's higher education reform: Which way forward? (p. 16). https://site.unibo.it/chinlone/it/results/wp1/chinlone_report_web.pdf
Crouch, M. (2021). Coopting federalism: Union Day and the three main national causes. https://melissacrouch.com/2021/02/12/coopting-federalism-the-more-things-change-the-more-they-remain-the-same/
Del Rio, A. (2020). Chinlone Recommendations for Curricula Updating (Doctoral dissertation, University of Bologna).
Du, X. (2020). Academic staff's dual role in China: Academic freedom in a prestigious university. In Z. Hao & P.
Zabielskis (Eds.), Academic freedom under siege: Higher education in East Asia, the US and Australia (pp. 103-124). Springer.
Fuller, T. (2012, September 21). Chief censor in Myanmar caps his red pen. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/world/asia/myanmars-chief-censor-is-closing-his-office.html
Gagnon, T., & Paul, A. (2021, April 10). Myanmar has never been a nation. Could it become one now. Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/4/10/myanmar-has-never-been-a-nation-could-it-become-one-now
Glutting, J. R., Lee, Z. X., & Galloway, C. (2022). Rebuilding social science research systems in Myanmar: The past informs the future. International Social Science Journal, 72(246), 1149-1159. https://doi.org/10.1111/issj.12312
Goldstein, S. R. (1976). The asserted constitutional right of public school teachers to determine what they teach. University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 124(6), 1293-1357. https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/penn_law_review/vol124/iss6/1
Goodman, A., Weil, C., Simon, D., & McCord, C. (2013). Investing in the future: Rebuilding higher education in Myanmar. Institute of International Education.
Gramsci, A. (2011). Prison notebooks (Vol. 2). Columbia University Press.
Habermas, J., & Blazek, J. R. (1987). The idea of the university: Learning processes. New German Critique, (41), 3-22. https://doi.org/10.2307/488273
Higgs, P. (2002). Nation building and the role of the university: A critical reflection. South African Journal of Higher Education, 16(2), 11-17.
Hla, M. (2014). Union activities of academics from Yangon University in the parliamentary democracy era. The Myanmar Hareld.
Holub, R. (1992). Antonio Gramsci Beyond Marxism and Postmodernism. London: Routledge.
Howlett, C. F., & Cohan, A. (2008). Loyalty Oaths and academic witch hunts. Social Science Docket, 8(1), 53-61. https://digitalcommons.molloy.edu/edu_fac/26
Htun, S. Y. (2020). The role of universities to promote human rights education in Myanmar (Doctoral dissertation, MERAL Portal).
Htut, K. P., Lall, M., & Howson, C. K. (2022). Caught between COVID-19, coup, and conflict—What future for Myanmar higher education reforms? Education Sciences, 12(2), 67. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12020067
Jacomini, M. A. (2020). The Gramscian concept of Integral State in educational policy researches. Educação e Pesquisa, 46, p.e214645. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-4634202046214645
Kamibeppu, T., & Chao, R. Y., Jr. (2017). Higher education and Myanmar's economic and democratic development. International Higher Education, (88), 19-20. https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2017.88.9688
Karran, T. (2009). Academic freedom in Europe: Time for a Magna Charta? Higher Education Policy, 22, 163-189. https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2009.2
Lall, M. (2021). Myanmar's education reforms: A pathway to social justice? UCL Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv13xprwx
Magna Charta Universitatum Observatory. (2020). What is the the Magna Charta Universitatum 2020? https://www.magna-charta.org/about-us/introduction-to-mco
Metro, R. (2023). Neoliberalism and the privatization of higher education in Myanmar, pre-and post-coup. In A. Tayeb, R. Metro, & W. Brehm (Eds.), Education and power in contemporary Southeast Asia (pp. 133-151). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003397144
Ministry of Defense. (2001). Manual for people war's strategy. Defense Service Academy.
Ministry of Information. (2021). Statement for civil service personnel taken action for participation in CDM activity for various reasons. Ministry of Information, The Republic of the Union of Myanmar. https://www.moi.gov.mm/moi:eng/news/3273.
Ministry of Information. (2022). Law Amending the National Education Law. Myanmar National Portal.
Morris, A. A. (1963). Academic freedom and loyalty oaths. Law and Contemporary Problems, 28(3), 487-514. https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol28/iss3/4
Myanmar News Agency. (2023, October 5). Senior general sends message to mark world teachers' day. The Global New Light of Myanmar. https://www.gnlm.com.mm/senior-general-sends-message-to-mark-world-teachers-day/
Myanmar News Agency. (2024, February 12). Country firmly built under the constitution based on our three main national causes as three national tasks will not be harmed in any way: Senior general. The Global New Light of Myanmar. https://www.gnlm.com.mm/country-firmly-built-under-the-constitution-based-on-our-three-main-national-causes-as-three-national-tasks-will-not-be-harmed-in-any-way-senior-general/
Myanmar Times. (2018). Myanmar universities still not autonomous: Academics. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-universities-still-not-autonomous-academics.html
Myoe, M. A. (2009). Building the Tatmadaw: Myanmar armed forces since 1948. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
NPNews. (2023, November 15). တက္ကသိိုလ်နှင ်ကက္ောလိပ်ကပေါင််း (၅၀)အတွက္် နည််းပပ/ သရိုပ်ပပမ ော်းက ေါ်ယူ [New lecturers are being recruited in 50 colleges and universities]. https://npnewsmm.com/news/6554a8d58a1fc6465b3364fa
Nyunt, W. (2019, March 8). Whistleblower cop, dentist who exposed civil service ''brainwashing'' labelled heroes. Myanmar Now. https://myanmar-now.org/en/news/whistleblower-cop-dentist-who-exposed-civil-service-brainwashing-labelled-heroes/
Pee, S., & Vululleh, N. (2020). Role of universities in transforming society: Challenges and practices. In E. Sengupta, P. Blessinger, & C. Mahoney (Eds.), International perspectives on policies, practices & pedagogies for promoting social responsibility in higher education (pp. 67-79). Emerald Publishing.
Phyu, P. E., & Siriwato, S. (2022). The progress and challenges of higher education in Myanmar. Proceedings of RSU International Research Conference 2022 (pp. 50-64). Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies, Rangsit University. https://rsucon.rsu.ac.th/files/proceedings/RSUSOC2022/IN22-027.pdf
Proserpio, L., & Fiori, A. (2022). Myanmar universities in the post-coup era: The clash between old and new visions of higher education. Torino World Affairs Institute. https://www.twai.it/articles/myanmar-universities-post-coup-era/
Reddy, P. (2011). The evolving role of universities in economic development: The case of university–industry linkages. In B. Göransson & C. Brundenius (Eds.), Universities in transition: The changing role and challenges for academic institutions (pp. 25-49). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7509-6_3
Rodriguez, E. (2023, November 9). Empowering Myanmar's youth: The potential of online higher education. https://www.norrag.org/empowering-myanmars-youth-the-potential-of-online-higher-education/
Ruuska, T. (2023). The reproduction of capitalism in education: Althusser and the educational ideological state apparatus. In R. Hall, I. Accioly, K. Szadkowski (Eds.), The Palgrave international handbook of Marxism and education (pp. 243-259). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-37252-0_13
Salem-Gervais, N., Aung, S., Spreelung, A., Seng, J., Benatar, J., & Chan (2023). Amendment of the National Education Law and other language-in-education developments following the 2021 military coup in Myanmar (Part 1). Tea Circle. https://teacirclemyanmar.com/education/amendment-of-the-national-education-law-and-other-language-in-education-developments-following-the-2021-military-coup-in-myanmar-part-1/
Shils, E. (1995). Academic freedom and permanent tenure. Minerva, 33(1), 5-17. https://www.jstor.org/stable/41820957
Smith, M. (2002). Burma (Myanmar). In J. Daniel, F. de Vlaming, N. Hartley, & M. Nowak (Eds.), Academic freedom 2: A human rights report. Zed books. https://wusgermany.de/en/service/academic-freedom-2-human-rights-report
Soe, S. K. Z. (2023). Ramifications of Myanmar civil disobedience movement. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sai-Soe/publication/372110019_Ramifications_of_Myanmar_Civil_Disobedience_Movement/links/64a53b4fb9ed6874a5fb2dd7/Ramifications-of-Myanmar-Civil-Disobedience-Movement.pdf
Soe, T., & Myint, S. (2020). University autonomy: A multi-dimensional perspective on University of Mandalay. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358232238_University_Autonomy_a_Multi-Dimensional_Perspective_on_University_of_Mandalay-1
Spannagel, J., & Kinzelbach, K. (2022). The academic freedom index and its indicators: Introduction to new global time-series V-Dem data. Quality & Quantity, 57, 3969–3989. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-022-01544-0
Spring University Myanmar. (2023). Higher education in post-coup Myanmar. https://www.springuniversitymm.com/research-publications.
Suwanwela, C. (2006). Academic freedom in countries of Asia. UNESCO. https://policycommons.net/artifacts/9809817/academic-freedom-in-countries-of-asia/10714772/
Udas, K., & Stagg, A. (2019). The university as ideological state apparatus: Educating to defend the corporate status quo? International Education Journal: Comparative Perspectives, 18(1), 66-79. https://openjournals.library.sydney.edu.au/IEJ/article/view/13357
Union Civil Service Board. (2016). Myanmar civil service reform action plan 2017-2020. https://www.undp.org/myanmar/publications/myanmar-civil-service-reform-action-plan-2017-2020
Vrieze, P. (2017). Myanmar plans education reform, but critics claim lack of consultation. VOA. https://www.voanews.com/a/myanmar-plans-education-reform-but-critics-claim-lack-of-consultation/3816698.html
Waa, N. S. P. (2021, May 14). Junta suspends thousands of academics, university staff. University World News. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20210514110259910
Whittington, K. E. (2018). Speak freely: Why universities must defend free speech. Princeton University Press.
Williams, G. A. (1960). The concept of 'Egemonia' in the thought of Antonio Gramsci: Some notes on interpretation. Journal of the History of Ideas, 21(4), 586-599. https://doi.org/10.2307/2708106
Win, P. P. T. (2015). An overview of higher education reform in Myanmar. In International conference on Burma/Myanmar studies, Burma/Myanmar in transition: Connectivity,changes and challenges (pp. 24-25). University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University.