State-building, nationalism, and education in Myanmar: a comparative study of two eras

Abstract

This article critically examines the role of education in state-building and nationalism in Myanmar by comparing the military socialist regime (1962–1988) with the National League for Democracy (NLD) government (2016–2021). While the NLD positioned its educational reforms as progressive and inclusive, this study argues that the underlying logic of education policy in both eras remained fundamentally similar. Using a comparative framework, the paper analyses policies across two eras related to education management, language of instruction, history curricula, and recognition of ethnic minority education. The article shows that both the socialist regime and NLD leveraged education to centralise control and promote Burman nationalism, often at the expense of ethnic diversity and minority inclusion. Despite differences in political ideology and rhetoric, both governments used education as a means of indoctrination and cultural assimilation, revealing the persistent limits of educational reform in contexts marked by internal conflict and competing nationalisms.