What happens when education is interrupted? With conflicts erupting around the world, the daily lives of many students and educators have been disrupted. In the Gaza strip, bombs have severely destroyed schools and education has been on hold for close to a month.

The long-term effects of disruption due to conflicts can be observed in a similar situation closer to home — Myanmar. Access to education has been cut off for almost two years because of the pandemic and the coup. The coup has even forced children to seek education beyond Myanmar borders, as migrants in Thailand. However, there have been major challenges to providing quality education due to poor educational infrastructure and the shortage of food. Even though schools have slowly reopened, there has been a shortage of trained educators and teaching staff. The quality of education has dropped immensely, with a lack of classes available to students. Consequently, parents are turning to private schools as a remedy to bolster their children’s education — however, this option has only been accessible to more privileged families. This form of educational inequality is reflected in the dropout rates of students, with 23% more dropouts from rural areas compared to urban areas.

Regardless, education in Myanmar has been at a standstill for the past three years and students have been affected by learning loss. Should Myanmar continue to lag in nurturing human capital, the future livelihoods of these students and the economy will be affected.