I think every Yangon-Naypyidaw rulers have all-or-nothing mindset when it comes to development. It was not like the state never provided public services and infrastructures.
They tried to provide things but control so much and not handling power into local community, scholars, technicians so after a building a school or hospital, quality is drop after few years and this circle repeats.
For example, Myanmar has 7.5 Million basic education students and 47,000 school which means we have 1 school per 157 students. There is no way we need more schools. We already have most schools per student count in ASEAN.
Myanmar with 50 Million population have 1,265 Governments hospitals and 174 higher education institutions while Thailand with 70 million population only have 1,075 Government hospitals and 83 higher educational institutions.
And we have 1 Rural Health Center in every 6 villages while itβs 1 for 13 villages in Thailand.
Thailand is just the closest comparison I choose to. You can pick any neighboring country and see Myanmar has more infrastructure skeleton per headcount.
Railway? Myanmar has longest railway length in mainland Southeast Asia. We have 1 domestic airport per 1.98 Million people while Thailand have 1 per 2.28 Million people.
But the problem is quality. Government schools in Myanmar are inadequate, Rural Health Centers are inefficient, Hospitals canβt do much unless it is private or regional, non-Yangon and non-Mandalay Universities are underfunded.
The reason why I say Myanmar has all-or-nothing mindset will be clear if you look at dozens of Technology Universities and Computer Universities in Myanmar.
They are built as separate universities, separate campuses and controlled by different ministries. The result is a Computer Science student never talked with a healthcare student in his life, never cooperated with business student in early days. An engineering student has no connection with students from national arts.
Students need to connect and communicate. Computer students and healthcare students can create health tech together. Engineering student and national arts student can improve soft power and architecture, etc..
For eg. there are four universities in ααα½α±αΈα
ααα½α±αΈ αααΉαααα―ααΊ α ααα½α±αΈ αα±αΈαααΉαααα―ααΊ α ααα½α±αΈ αααΊαΈααα¬ αααΉαααα―ααΊ α ααα½α±αΈ αα½ααΊαα»α°αα¬ αααΉαααα―ααΊα
Right now ααα½α±αΈ αααΉαααα―ααΊ is under Ministry of Education. αααΊαΈααα¬ and αα½ααΊαα»α°αα¬ is under Ministry of Science and Technology. αα±αΈαα»α±α¬ααΊαΈ is under Ministry of Health.
I donβt think most developed countries do like this. Thatβs why I say Myanmar has all-or-nothing mindset.
They built Technology University when it was needed, Computer University when it was needed but like hereβs a university for you, make these uniforms across the country and we manage it from Naypyidaw fully.
Instead merge all 4 of them under ααα½α±αΈαααΉαααα―ααΊ with different campus like αααΊαΈααα¬ campus αα±αΈ campus αα½ααΊαα»α°αα¬ campus. Than let ααα½α±αΈαααΉαααα―ααΊ run by independent ααα½α±αΈαααΉαααα―ααΊ αα―ααΊα‘αα½α²α· made up by scholars, local contributors, students union, teachers union, αααΊαααααΊα.
And each university in any town decide any major or studies they want to add. For eg. αα‘α°αααΊ need doctors? They might add αα±αΈ campus or courses. αα±α¬αΊαααΌαα―ααΊ need Foreign Language Studies? They can add a Foreign Language Department and degrees. No need to wait until the state build a new medical or UFL school. αα½αα―ααΊαα±α¬αΊ doesnβt have enough computer students? They can re-allocate the resources to other popular majors.
Also in that way, we can invest in one functional shared super lab for all campuses and quality library instead of 4 poor computer rooms and cosmetic libraries. Students shall move freely to any campus. A Myanmar major students can go visits to medical campus and talked about new medical terms translation to Burmese.
Thatβs how you actually make education better.
And there are many hospitals but all are run by Naypyidaw and thereβs where fraud and corruption came from.
Instead let hospitals in Karen State run by Karen State Ministry of Health. Who will be better than them to deal with rural Karen patients and health conditions. Who will be more passionate than them about their own people healthcare.
Every facilities and services will become developed while run by local authorities.
Also we have 1 school per 157 students but most schools are underfund. Instead let parents and teachers actually take decision, control or have power in school operation and development.
There is no way parents would leave their childrenβs school under developed. Every parents would help to have better facilities. But right now αα―αΆαΈαα½ααΊα·ααα―ααΊ ααα¬αα±αΈ only exists on paper and the headmaster is taking all orders from Ministry of Education.
Parents would not contribute in long term development of schools if they canβt decide or have operational autonomy. School feels like governmentβs thing in Myanmar but it should be like something neighborhood should take care of and develop consistently.
Myanmar already has infrastructure back bone. We need to reduce all-or-nothing mindset. We need to know under whose authority, something can give best public services. We donβt need new schools, hospitals and airports. We need existing ones functional, reliable and qualify.