"Learning to help" : building capacity for change through Christian and community-based education in Kayin State, Myanmar

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“Learning to Help”

Building Capacity for Change through Christian and

Community-Based Education in Kayin State, Myanmar

Iris Bruijn

Graduate school of Social Sciences

Research Master International Development Studies (RMIDS)

2017-2019

Supervisor: Dr. Linda van de Kamp

Second reader: Dr. Mieke Lopes Cardozo

Email: irisbruijn93@gmail.com

Date: 30 May 2019

Word Count: 31.510 words

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Acknowledgements

This thesis could not have been completed without the help and support of many individuals. I am grateful for the support I have received from professors, classmates, friends and family in supporting me in the ups and downs of fieldwork and writing this thesis.

I would like to thank Dr. Linda van de Kamp for being my supervisor, encouraging me when everything changed during fieldwork and for her flows of feedback that made this thesis to what it is now.

Above all I am grateful for everyone that made my time in Myanmar the great and memorable experience that it has been. I am thankful for the school I call New Horizons Education for allowing me to be part of the school during my time in the field, for allowing me to use their network to meet other teachers and for Steven who agreed to become my research assistant and accompany me to interviews to translate. To all participants in this research, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to answer my questions and help me understand your world better.

A final thank you to God and Christian communities in the Netherlands and Myanmar for being a source of support and inspiration throughout this research.

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Abstract

As a new democracy with ongoing ethnic and religious conflict, education is deemed crucial for positive change in Myanmar. While most research on peace education is focused on public education, this article is about the contribution of low-fee private schools. Additionally, extensive attention is given to the position of Christian schools in processes of peacebuilding and development, speaking against the idea that religion is always a dividing factor in

Myanmar. The objective is to show how community-based and Christian schools in Kayin state build capacity for change in their communities through quality education. Through qualitative research, including interviews and participant observation I show how teachers work towards change in what is perceived as the least developed state in Myanmar: Kayin State. Responding to the low quality of public education, community-based schools aim to teach students knowledge and skills to help their communities develop. Apart from teaching mainstream subjects these schools are dedicated to understanding (ethnic and religious) diversity, critical thinking or help with development projects. I argue that these skills help students build the capability to become agents of change while education provided by the government still fails to do so. Christian schools also focus on non-technical education through, for instance, worship, moral education and attention to building students’ characters. In these schools, Buddhist and Christian students’ cross religious boundaries through a shared desire for quality education and community development. However, religious boundaries are also created through Christian education in the Buddhist context of Kayin state. I conclude that while these schools, Christian or multi-religious, are not working with the government they have a unique position in building capacity for change. Therefore, they should be guaranteed continued existence by international donors and the government during and after the education reforms in Myanmar. It also shows that private education can be an important factor in building capacity for change and should get more scientific attention.

Keywords: Myanmar, Karen, Education, Smooth space, Development, Democratic citizenship, Peacebuilding.

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List of abbreviations

CSO Civil Society Organization

DKBA Democratic Karen Buddhist Army EAG Ethnic armed group

EFA Education for All

GED General Educational Development HDI Human Development Index

INGO International Non-Governmental Organization JMC Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee

KED Karen Education Department (Became KECD in 2019)

KECD Karen Education and Culture Department (was KED until 2019) KHRG Karen Human Rights Group

KNLA Karen National Liberation Army KNU Karen National Union

LFPS Low-fee private school

MDG Millennium Development Goals MOE ministry of Education

NCA Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement

NESP National Education Strategic Plan 2016-21 NGO Non-Governmental Organization

NLD National League for Democracy NMFA National Military Family Association NUPI Norwegian Institute of International Affairs SDG Sustainable Development Goals

TBC The Border Consortium UDE University Distant Education

UN United Nations

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I. Introduction

It is a Monday afternoon in September when I meet Dachen and Nyan, both teachers at a private school in Kayin State. To explain me about their society Dachen shares a story

comparing the people in Myanmar to two kinds of blind people. There are those who are born blind, and those who become blind later in life. The last category are people who still

remember what it was like to see, they can dream and imagine what things look like. They are the ones born before the military dictatorship. Those who are born blind are unable to dream and imagine, they are the generation born during the military dictatorship in Myanmar and now the dictatorship is over they are learning how to see. Dachen started the school where he works several years ago after studying in Thailand. When he first came back he asked what students wanted to become, but often they had no idea. He then asked who their role models were, but again students often didn’t know. He realized there was a need for role models and started the school to teach youth to become role models, thus allowing them to learn to see again.

This is an example of one school and its teachers’ mission to bring change in their communities through education. Many believe education is key for positive change in Myanmar after a complex history of dictatorship and conflict. Since Burma, now called Myanmar, became independent in 1957 there has been civil war in Kayin state. Many of the Karen ethnic group, who mainly reside in Kayin state, sided with the British during

colonialism and hoped to get their own country after independence. When they became part of Burma, the Karen National Union (KNU), with its armed wing the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), were formed. The KNU has functioned as a parallel government in parts of Kayin state ever since. Apart from being divided based on ethnicity, religious identification also played a role. The KNU was a mainly Christian organization, while being Burmese often means being Buddhist. On a national level the Burmese army, the Tatmadaw, took control in 1962 and until 2011 there was no real distinction between them and the government. Different Ethnic Armed Groups (EAGs), including the KNLA fought against this government for their own territory. In 2012 a ceasefire was signed between the Tatmadaw and the KNU, and in 2015 a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) was signed between different EAGs, including the KNU, and the Tatmadaw. 2015 was also the year that the National League for Democracy (NLD) was elected and became the first democratically elected government after a long time of military dictatorship. Since then peace negotiations have been ongoing, and

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many Karen hope for positive change in their communities. Within this context, this thesis is about the role of education to build capacity for social change.

Development and education are interconnected concepts which are relevant for understanding the processes occurring in Kayin state. Education has been connected to development in different ways. In human capital theory, education is important as it increases the economically productiveness of a person. The view of development as economic

development was challenged by Sen (1987) who stated that development is freedom. In this view education increases development as it increases the freedom of a person and can influence social change through this person (Saito 2003, Sen 1999, Unterhalter 2013). Education is not only connected to development, but mass education is also connected to creating citizens of the imagined community of the nation-state (Anderson 2006, Collet 2017, Kaag 2018, Waters and Leblanc 2005). As “a tool for indoctrination into the normative basis for adult life” it is used to “define the ‘we’ of citizenship” (Waters and Leblanc 2005, 129 &138). This soft power of education to affect national identity can also influence the process to or away from peace in (post-)conflict societies as Myanmar (Bush and Saltarelli 2000; Novelli, Lopes Cardozo and Smith 2017).

In Myanmar education provided by the government is troubled in many ways (Lorch 2008). Completion of secondary education is low, but access to primary education is

increasing and in 2017 92% of all children did attend primary school.1 Many students drop out throughout their education and only 34% made it to upper secondary school (UNICEF 2017)2. The quality of education at these schools is low, as the schools are exam based and focused on rote learning. Furthermore, during the military regime a curriculum was developed which focused on the “Burmannes” of the nation and the Buddhist faith (Salem-Gervais and Metro 2012, Shah and Lopes Cardozo 2018). In response to the context of conflict and unsuitable education, parallel education systems have been set up among which a Karen education system, led by the Karen Educational Department (KED)3 (OH, WALKER AND THAKO 2019, Lall and South 2014). Outside of these education systems there are also

independent, low-fee private schools (LFPSs). These schools do not aim to make profit, but to provide quality education and build capacity for change. They operate in the smooth space,

1_{Data collection is difficult in conflict affected and border areas of Myanmar. For this reason, these statistics} are likely not to be fully accurate. They are included as these statistics, even when they are not fully reliable, do give insight in education in Myanmar.

2_{https://www.unicef.org/publications/files/SOWC_2017_ENG_WEB.pdf Accessed: 18/04/2019}

3_{The KED changed its name to the Karen Education and Culture Department in after fieldwork was conducted.} As it is still mostly known as KED this will be used in this thesis.

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meaning they are exterior to the state and its striation, yet always in interaction with it (Deleuze and Guattari 1987). While most research on citizenship education and peace

education is focused on the national level and on mass education, I will look at how schools in the smooth space build capacity for change in their communities. Being outside of ‘war machine’ KNU and the State (Deleuze and Guattari 1987), these schools are not a part of an official discourse, yet they expand students’ capabilities and shape their thought. I will argue that these ground-up education initiatives should not be overlooked in academia and practice, but included when considering education in relation to development, democratic citizenship and peace.

In this context I choose to pay particular attention to religion as the conflict in Kayin state is partially based on religious diversity. According to the 2014 census, released in 20164, 87.9% of people in Myanmar identify as Buddhist, 6.2% as Christian, 4.3% as Muslim and 1.6% identify differently. In Kayin state an estimation of 67-80% identifies as Buddhist, 15-30% as Christian and small groups as Muslim or animist (UNHCR 2014, 3). Despite the fact that Christians form a minority among the Karen, historically they have a position of power as the KNU is mainly a Christian organization. Religious adherence is not only part of the conflict between the mainly Buddhist Burmese and the Karen, but also among Karen as, for example, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) was established in 1994 and fought with the Tatmadaw against the KNU in 1995.

Throughout history, different religious education systems have been established in Myanmar. The most prominent is Monastic education, which is now partially incorporated in government education. During and after colonialism Christian schools were also established. However, there is a gap in knowledge about these schools and Shah and Lopes Cardozo (2018, 8) argue that:

In light of our analytical lenses on the 4Rs5, and processes of transformation towards peacebuilding, a deeper understanding of the role of faith-based education in

Monastic schools and beyond is essential in order to further understand how issues of identity-formation (recognition), tolerance and intergroup understanding and living together with ‘others’ (reconciliation) are playing out.

4_{Due to the sensitive nature of religious adherence the statistics of the 2014 census were only released in} 2016. As with the statistics on education these are unlikely to be fully accurate.

5_{The 4Rs stand for redistribution, recognition, representation and reconciliation. More about this analytical} lens will be said in the theoretical framework.

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To further understand faith-based education and its role in Myanmar, in this study special attention will be given to Christian education in Kayin state. The choice for Christian

education is made as more is already known about Monastic education through, for instance, the research of Cheesman (2003). Additionally, Christian schools’ function in the smooth space while Monastic education is more connected to government education. A final reason for this choice is that Christianity is a minority religion, especially on a national level,

providing an interesting dynamic to recognition of religious identity and education for peace. The purpose of this research is thus twofold; to show how LFPSs use soft power to build capacity for change from the smooth space and to give further understanding of the role of Christian schools in this process. Apart from the academic relevance of gaining knowledge to work towards filling aforementioned knowledge gaps, the research is socially relevant as well. I will show that schools in the smooth space, Christian and non-religious, play a role in building capacity for positive change in Kayin state. For this reason, they should be

guaranteed continued existence by (international) donors and the government during and after the education reforms in Myanmar.

Research questions

The research gaps and aims of this research mentioned before lead to the following main questions about the role of low-fee private schools in building capacity for development, democratic citizenship and peace or in short, social change.

How do low-fee private schools build capacity for social change from the smooth space in Kayin state, Myanmar and what is the role of religious education in this process?

This main question is divided in the following sub-questions.

1. How do low-fee private schools in Kayin state create and function in the smooth space?

2. How do low-fee private schools in Kayin state work towards social change from the smooth space?

3. What is the role of Christian low-fee private schools in building capacity for social change?

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Outline of thesis

To close this introductory chapter, I will give a brief overview of the coming chapters. Chapter II presents the theoretical debates and concepts that underpin this research. More background will be provided to terms such as smooth and striated space (Deleuze and Guattari 1987) and debates surrounding education in relation to development, citizenship and peace will be explored. The chapter will close off with a short reflection on the anthropology of learning.

In chapter III the context of Kayin state will be discussed. To do this special attention will be given to understanding the civil war better and different forms of education provided by the state, KNU and other actors.

In chapter IV I will describe the epistemological and ontological position

underpinning this research and the research design used. This includes the main methods used, sampling and data analysis. Besides this, reflection about positionality and ethics are given.

Chapter V is the first empirical chapter and illustrates how community-based schools in the smooth space function and work towards change in their communities through building multiplying capabilities, teaching skills as critical thinking and work towards a ground-up federalism of thought.

Chapter IV is the second empirical chapter and will focus on Christian schools. It will portray the perceived role of religion in past and present conflict in Kayin state. This will be followed by a discussion on two types of recognition in Christian schools; recognition of Christian identities in a Buddhist society and recognition of Buddhist students in Christian schools.

Chapter VII is the final chapter and will provide an answer to the main questions. It will show how Christian and non-religious schools in the smooth space build capacity for social change from the smooth space of society. This is followed by looking at the future of education in Myanmar and recommendations for further research.

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II. Theoretical framework

International history of education and development: Building capacity or economic

productivity?

Throughout history numerous forms of education have existed, serving various goals for different societies and individuals all over the world. The earliest forms of education were provided by religious. This means that “education in Europe was provided by monks and priests in cathedral and monastic schools, by Buddhist monks in monastic schools in Southeast Asia, and by imams in private homes or mosques in the Islamic world”

(Sivasubramaniam 2017, kindle location 135). This changed, and the state took over as main provider of education, yet mostly leaving space for religious schools to continue. During the time of colonialism, missionaries founded many schools aiming to teach religious content but including basic literacy and numeracy skills in their curriculum. It is estimated that in 1942 99 percent of all African schools were established by these missionaries and many of them are still in operation (Coleman 1958 in Shields 2013,11). The focus on religious content instead of general education was important as there was a fear that educated members of a society would make more demands. This fear already shows that education was thought to be able to transform individuals and societies. In the 1950s and 1960s human capital theory became popular in which “human capital is an individual’s traits and abilities that are economically productive” (Shields 2013, 14). Education was seen as an important way to gain human capital and was thus a way to advance economically and reach a higher level of development. This view remains important today as Shields (2013) explains:

Both human capital and modernization theories have left a lasting legacy on the development sector. Their impact is less visible in terms of concrete institutions and policies than in the way that development is conceptualized and discussed in society at large. For instance, development organizations (e.g. the UN, USAID and DFID) often speak about development in terms of growth and economic opportunity, and

investment in education is seen as a necessary precursor to development (World Education Forum, 2000). These ideas are often taken to be so fundamentally true, that they do not need explanation (Shields 2013, 15).

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While economic development is still seen as an important factor, or even the most important factor, this notion was challenged by economist Sen (1983, 1999) through his idea of

development as freedom. His writing played a large part in a shift in development theory and practise which resulted in for instance the measurement of development through the Human Development Index instead of only economic measurements. This shift in development was also reflected in education, which I will explain in more depth below. Around the same time education as a Human Right became more important. It was already included in the 1948 UN declaration of Human Rights but had not received much attention yet (Shield 2013, 26). In 1990 this led to the Jomtien World conference on Education for All, where all 155 countries present committed to providing universal access to primary education by the year 2000. The importance of education in development is also underscored by the MDGs and SDGs as, for example, SDG 4 aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”6_{. This links education to sustainable development with}

Target 7 that states:

By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development”7_.

This shows a consensus on the impact of education in other fields of society, and that this impact should be utilized.

Educating capabilities

As stated above, the notion of development as freedom by Sen changed the view on development and education. In this section I will give attention to this theory and its implications. Core concepts are capabilities and functionings in which “a functioning is an achievement, whereas a capability is the ability to achieve” (Sen 1987 in Saito 2003, 18). Capability is always related to freedom, as it gives a range of options for a person to choose from. They are the real opportunities regarding a person’s life while functionings are

6_{https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg4, Accessed: 15/11/2018.} 7_{https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg4, Accessed 15/11/2018.}

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opportunities that have been achieved. The capability to achieve functionings is what the real opportunities of a person are, or their real freedom (Saito 2003, 21). To further understand capabilities, and to oppose this approach to human capital theory, Sen articulates three roles of capabilities which are “(1) Their direct relevance to the well-being and freedom of people; (2) Their indirect role through influencing social change; and (3) Their indirect role through influencing economic production” (Sen 1999, 296). This is of importance as it shows that capabilities are both directly relevant for the development of an individual person, as well as indirect through influencing social change and economic production.

While Sen himself is not directly concerned with education, many scholars have looked at education using the capability approach after him (Hart 2009; Nussbaum, 2011; Saito 2003; Unterhalter 2013). A key theme in this literature is that education works as a ‘capability multiplier’ as students develop capabilities through education (Unterhalter 2013, 187). A second theme in literature on the capacity approach to education is that of teaching values. Sen sees having capabilities in itself as positive, but they can be used negatively. For this reason, Saito (2003) argues that education should not only enhance capabilities, but also discuss values to not abuse capabilities. Both of these themes work towards the goal of education, “to be the one that makes people autonomous and, at the same time, develops people’s judgement about capabilities and their exercise” (Saito 2003, 29). Education thus works towards freedom and development by multiplying capabilities. This is true for an individual, but as capabilities also have an indirect role of influencing social change and economic production education also works towards development in a society. As capabilities in itself are morally neutral, education should also teach a morality in how to use them. This soft power of education is also used to teach students to be citizens, which will be discussed further in the next paragraph.

Education on the national level

Education multiplies capabilities and works towards freedom and development. Skills learned through education can go beyond that, and work towards the creation of citizens. Kaag (2018) shows that:

Education is generally considered as a prerequisite for development, and it should be underlined that this not only holds true for economic development, as educated people

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tend to perform better, but also for political development and democracy, as educated and literate citizens are better able to hold their rulers to account” (Kaag 2018, 496)

Apart from gaining capabilities that allow citizens to hold rulers to account education is used to create a sense of national identity. Seeing the nation-state as “an imagined political

community and imagined as both inherently limited and sovereign” (Anderson 2006, 6) education is what feeds this imagination. Waters and Leblanc (2005) argue that:

This communion is possible only when vast numbers of people are exposed – and indoctrinated- to the same ideas through the system of mass public schooling that every modern nation-state seeks to establish. In sum, a key social role for schools in all modern societies is the creation of modern citizens and workers who can imagine themselves as members of a political and economic community. In effect, the nation and its schools define the ‘we’ that is the citizenship of a modern state. By default, it also defines the ‘them’ (Waters and Leblanc 2005, 129).

Waters and Leblanc (2005) write about refugee education, who are outside of the state and into a pseudo-state of relief workers. Being outside of the nation-state brings up questions such as what future to prepare for and in what ways, thus challenging the view of

homogenous citizenship taught in mass education. This view is problematic in other ways as well. Collet (2007) writes about Somali refugees who have resettled in Canada. Young Somali’s are socialized into Canadian citizenship yet remain “very much actors and co-creators in their identification processes” (Collet 2007, 150). This means that while mass education aims to define the “we” of citizenship, this can also be contested by the agency of individuals. What this example shows is that the creation of modern citizens in mass

education is made more difficult in multicultural state. This is increasingly difficult in nations with conflict such as Myanmar.

To understand peace Galtung (1969) distinguishes between positive peace and negative peace. In this negative peace means the absence of violence while positive peace is about social justice. In the areas of Kayin state this research took place negative peace has been established, so the focus will be on the building capacity for positive peace. Education can have both a positive as a negative influence on creating positive peace, which Bush and Saltarelli (2000) describe as the two faces of education. Aspects such as the uneven

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repression can influence peace negatively. A positive influence on creating peace through education can be reached by, for example, cultivating an inclusive citizenship, de-segregation of the mind and using the education of history in a positive way (Bush and Saltarelli 2000). An important note to this is that education on its own can never bring peace, as transformation is needed throughout society. To look at the potential of education to be a soft power in working towards positive peace Novelli, Lopes Cardozo and Smith (2017) developed the 4R framework. This framework “contends (1) that sustainable peacebuilding is dependent on societal transformation; (2) that social sectors (including education) play a crucial role in such transformation; and (3) that the transformative processes involve not just the three Rs as suggested by Fraser, but a combination of the four Rs” (Novelli, Lopes Cardozo and Smith 2017, 28). Peace comes from a transformation in society, and education can play a role in this transformation. The four Rs stand for redistribution, recognition, representation and

reconciliation and form a model to discuss the peacebuilding role of education through the lens of social justice (Novelli, Lopes Cardozo and Smith 2017, 29). Redistribution means a more equitable distribution of resources, access to education and outcomes. Recognition “entails possible solutions to injustice that have to do with status inequities” (Novelli, Lopes Cardozo and Smith 2017, 29). These status inequalities often have to do with recognition for diversity. The third R of representation is about politics on different levels and the final R of reconciliation addresses how education can be part of processes of reconciliation through for instance teaching about the past and creating levels of trust between groups and in the education system. The four dimensions are connected and influence each other but analysed together for further understanding.

Both citizenship education and peace education are often discussed on a national level, as citizenship education is focused on belonging to the imagined community of the nation and redistribution and representation are mostly discussed with regards to education recognized by a national government. However, as the government education system in Myanmar is

perceived as problematic by much of the Myanmar’s population, parallel systems of education have been set up. This thesis is about these schools outside of government systems. This will be considered further below.

Building capacity from the ‘smooth space’

In this thesis I will look at low-fee private schools on a local level to understand how these schools relate to issues of democratic citizenship and peace-building. Private schools are

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different from public schools in that their goal is not only education, but to make a profit. This is often put opposite to philanthropic ideas of quality education as “where profit, no matter how small, is a motivator, then there will be no incentive to endure access for the

marginalised.” (Härmä 2016 in Sivasubramaniam & Sider 2017, kindle location 4633). However, low-fee private schools make profit sometimes only to be used to pay teachers a small salary (Walford 2011). Setting up a LFPS can be done because of many different motivations including making a profit, but also because of a lack of (quality) education, mistrust of government schools, a preference of language of teaching or religious preference (Walford 2011). In this it is important to realize that it is often not done because of an ideology of privatization but “it is simply that the alternatives available in the state-maintained sector did not meet the parents’ requirements and local people stepped in to provide schools more in line with these requirements” (Walford 2011, 410). However, the question of philanthropic engagement in the private sector remains. As a response to this question Sivasubramaniam and Sider (2017) create a new category.

Our findings suggest that faith-based entrepreneurs may offer another form of state-community engagement that lies outside the contentious public-private debate. As new actors in the field of education they challenge the way we conceptualize philanthropic engagement in education. (Sivasubramaniam and Sider 2017, kindle location 5024)

In this thesis I will look at both faith-based and non-faith-based LFPSs and their engagement with the community. In this, I will conceptualize this engagement outside of the contentious public-private debate using Deleuze and Guattari’s (1980) concepts of smooth and striated space.

In “A thousand Plateaus” (1987) philosophers Deleuze and Guattari introduce the idea of the smooth and the striated space. In this:

They proposed a ‘‘smooth’’ space outside the state, contrasted with ‘‘striated’’ space, space that has been gridded, measured, demarcated and controlled by state powers. Smooth space is deterritorialised, without borders, uncontrolled and heterogeneous, whereas striated space is territorialised by the state and homogenised. Smooth space is predicated on difference and multiplicity, the space of the ‘‘nomad’’ rather than the singularity and identity represented by the state. (Wilmsmeier and Monios 2015, 63).

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Smooth space is a space without central authority and control. It is exterior to the State8 and can be on an international level or a local reality. In this it is important to understand that Deleuze and Guattari do not place smooth and striated space in a dualism, but as constantly interacting and changing.

Smooth space and striated space – nomad space and sedentary space- the space in which the war machine develops and the space instituted by the State apparatus- are not of the same nature. No sooner do we note a simple opposition between two kind of space than we must indicate a much more complex difference by virtue of which we must indicate a much more complex difference by virtue of which the successive terms of the opposition fail to coincide entirely. And no sooner have we done that than we must remind ourselves that the two spaces in fact exist only in mixture: smooth space is constantly being translated, transversed into a striated space; striated space is constantly being reversed, returned to a smooth space. (Deleuze and Guattari 1987, 552)

The concepts of smooth and striated space, ‘war machine’ and State are highly relevant in the complexity of Kayin state. A ‘war machine’ is an all-encompassing exteriority to the State. It does not automatically have war as its object but being exterior to the State they collide with it and war is the result of this. The KNU is an example of a ‘war machine’ in Kayin state as they organized themselves outside of the Myanmar government and claim territory and space. More about the KNU as war machine will be explained in the context chapter, as for now it is sufficient to know that the KNU is a large organization operating outside of government space, and thus in a smooth space. However, smooth space is not only under ‘war machines’ as the KNU but all spaces exterior to the striation of the State. In a complex society as Myanmar this concept helps to analyze spaces that can be both local as international, as they function outside of striation by the nation-state. It is also helpful as smooth and striated space are not static categories but exist in mixture and are always changing. New rules can be made to striate space, and more informality can be imposed to escape this. Schools are being categorized as being in the smooth space as they are outside of the government education system. But the interaction and tranversability between smooth and striated spaces in a

8_{What Deleuze and Guattari (1987) call the State can be an actual state but also other central authorities. To} distinguish the concept ‘State’ from the actual state of Myanmar I will follow Deleuze and Guattai (1987) in using State when speaking of the concept and state when I mean the state of Myanmar.

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complex context with war machine and State make that schools navigate through this to continue to provide education.

In conclusion, citizenship education and peace education are often looked at from the perspective of striated space. Citizenship is inherently linked to the state, and thus to striation. Yet I will argue that in its interaction the smooth space will have influence on citizenship through LFPSs that operate mainly in smooth space. By introducing the term smooth space, I will go outside of the public-private dualism and draw attention away from the inherent focus on the state or profit. Instead, I will focus on social processes that LFPS in the smooth space are engaged with and their relationship with the striated and their community. To do this I will use theories of anthropology of schooling in order to further understand how students learn at these schools.

Anthropology of schooling

In the field of anthropology most research on learning have been on practical mastery over formal schooling, and often these studies have thus not been about education itself (Stafford 2002, 179). In this section I will mainly focus on work on religious learning. The first reason to do this is that this is often about internalizing values and actions rather than knowledge. As notions as peace or citizenship are also about internalizing values I will work with some concepts of learning religion. I do however see religion, and therefore religious learning, as something fundamentally different from these other notions. Yet, because of overlap in ways of learning I will argue that these theories will still be useful. The second reason I will use theories of religious learning is that part of the schools are religious, and this will play a large role in the research.

The most well-known idea in the anthropology of learning is the notion of habitus by Bourdieu. This is “the total set of dispositions which shape and constrain social practices” (Stafford 2002, 607). The production of habitus is an unconscious inculcation of principles. Mahmood (2001) argues that this approach has a “lack of attention to the pedagogical process by which a habitus is learned” (Mahmood 2001, 838). She then continues to show how the body is used as a site of moral training and cultivation. In this she draws on an earlier understanding of habitus developed by Aristotle and writes:

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Habitus in this formulation is concerned with ethical formation and presupposes a specific pedagogical process by which a moral character is acquired. In this understanding, both vices and virtues (…) are acquired through the repeated

performance of actions that entail a particular virtue or vice, until al behaviour comes to be regulated by habitus. (Mahmood 2001, 838).

Through the performance of acts vices and virtues are gained. This can be an unconscious process as Bourdieu points out, but it can also be a conscious process. In the study of learning religion Lambek (2007) aims to understand spirit possessions. In this he argues one ‘catches up with oneself’, one comes to realize that one means what one does after the performance (Lambek 2007, 81). This realization of conviction is a product of engagement with others to create a world (Lambek 2007, 74). From Mahmood and Lambek we thus learn that to learn (religious) ritual or virtue bodily performances are important. However, this is not the only thing of important in learning ethical behaviour and religion. Stafford (2007) argues that:

[W]e are natural psychologists, and also because our default assumption – for better or worse – is that any human communication directed as us will, in some way, be relevant (…). Following on from this, I want to suggest that when we ‘learn religion’ we are often, to a very significant extent, focusing our actual attention and efforts on the psychology of the humans around us. (Stafford 2007, 181).

It is not only by performances done by a person themselves, but also the psychology of people around us that matters in learning religion. Because of this the environment a student is in, the beliefs of teachers and other students, matter to the process of learning of the student. A third way of learning, closely related to the former is through discussion, both verbal and non-verbal. Eickelman (1992) discusses how mass education has influenced Islamic discourses in the Arab Muslim world. In his explanation of how religions have been objectified he states the following:

For something like religion to be objectified in people’s consciousness, it must be discussed, and this entails discourse. If, for reasons of political intimidation or social deference, people do not discuss directly, then it is discussed publicly for then by “experts” with whom they may or may not agree. (Eickelman 1992, 643)

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Through mass education more people are capable of reading, and this spread of information changed religious discourse. Anderson (2006) argues that through shared language and print a sense of national belonging wider than face-to-face interaction was created. Through

interaction with texts, both verbal and written, students learn.

In conclusion the process of learning ethics and learning religion is a multifaceted and complex process. Coming from the believe that “acquiring religion’ is not merely a cold-blooded technical process of cognitive downloading” (Lave and Wenger 1991, 47), and thus with a focus on the social dimension of learning, there are still many different ways to learn. The three ways of learning I will focus on in for this study are bodily performances to create the habitus, the psychology of people around the school and verbal and non-verbal

discussions.

Conclusion

This theoretical framework shows that education has a soft power to build capacity for change. This is done in the area of development through multiplying capabilities which leads to more freedom of an individual but also development at a larger scale (Saito 2003, Sen 1999, Unterhalter 2013). Education is also used to create citizens. This is both in skills and knowledge to be active citizens and hold a government accountable as in creating an idea of belonging to the imagined community of the nation-state (Anderson 2006, Kaag 2018, Waters and Leblanc 2005). However, people have agency and the national identity taught in schools can be contested (Collet 2007). This is increasingly important for nations with conflict such as Myanmar. In these places, education can work both towards positive peace as against it (Bush and Saltarelli 2000). To analyse this further the 4R framework of redistribution, recognition, representation and reconciliation will be used (Novelli, Lopes Cardozo and Smith 2017). While most research on the soft power of education to bring social change is focused on national education systems, this thesis is about schools in the space (Deleuze and Guattari 1987). I will show how from this space exterior to state striation, yet always in interaction with it, schools build capacity for social change.

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III. Context

“The thing we don’t have is democracy. I would like to change this. It is very important, democracy. Very important for the country”9

I want to change their thoughts. Because our people is like, how do you say? More than sixty years them against the government. So people are running here and there. And I want to have more peace and try to develop our area.10

What led to these statements? In this chapter I will attempt to answer this question by focussing on the context of Karen ethnic group in Myanmar. To understand the current situation, it is important to look at history of Myanmar as a nation. I will do this briefly and with a focus on the Karen as a complete overview of the history of Myanmar goes beyond the scope of this thesis. After the history I will focus on the current political situation in

Myanmar, followed by a closer look at publications on the Karen. I will close this chapter by describing the field of education in Myanmar, which will form a starting point for the

following chapters.

A short history of Burma

Following the Karen tradition, the Karen are descendants of Htaw Meh Pa. According to the myth, he left his family behind by the ‘River of Running Sand’ and they could not find him anymore and thus settled in the area (Marshall 1922, 5-6). Between the 13th_{and 18}th_century

their position went from independent to a more subordinate status to the Bamar and the Siam civilizations (Hovemyr 1989, 69). 11_{The American Baptist missionaries and the British}

arrived in Burma in the 19th century, changing the dynamics of area drastically. The

missionaries were unsuccessful in their mission in mostly Buddhist Burma, and thus moved on to the Karen. They used overlap between the biblical creation story and that of the Karen

9_{As English is a second language of most participants all quotes from fieldwork have been modified to be} readable. This is done, as much as possible, without changing the meaning. This quote is from an interview on 26/12/2018.

10_{Interview, 30/11/2018.}

11_{The Bamar are the main ethnic group of Myanmar. I will refer to them as Bamar as Burmese can also mean a} citizen of Myanmar. Because of the strong connection between these names the term Burmese will be used to describe cultural aspect of this group such as language as there is no other term.

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creation story, which led many to convert to Christianity (Rajah 2010, 522-525).12 This focus on Karen stories of origin, in combination with other developments, make that the Karen see themselves as a group separate from the Bamar (Rajah 2010).

Simultaneously with the Missionaries the British arrived to occupy Burma. The Karen sided with the British in the Anglo-Burmese wars and held many high positions in society, making the existing boundary between the Karen and the Bamar even stronger. After the second World War the Bamar and other ethnic groups wanted independence and an important moment of unity among these different ethnic groups was the 1947 Panglong agreement. This stated that ethnic groups would work towards independence together under general Aung San. However, the Karen wanted their own nation-state and did not sign the agreement but were only observers (Laoutides and Ware in Cheesman and Frelly 2016, 52). They then formed the Karen National Union (KNU) in the same year, with its armed wing the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soon after.13_{The KNU has since formed a parallel government to}

the national government in parts of Karen state (KHRG 2017, 22). The KNU is what Deleuze and Guattari (1987) would describe as a ‘war machine’. They are an organization “irreducible to the State apparatus, to be outside its sovereignty and prior to its law” (Deleuze and

Guattari 1987, 410). The ‘war machine’ does not have war as its object, but wants to remain outside of the state, in smooth space, and will defend this space in war when necessary. Thus, when Kayin state unwillingly became part of the larger Myanmar, the KNU ‘war machine’ was born to defend its space. However, these categories are not static. The KNU functions as its own State in areas they control and striate the space over which they rule.

Meanwhile, on a national level, Burma formed a democracy from independence in 1947 until 1962.14 After a coup d’état by Ne Win the Burmese army, the Tatmadaw, took control and until 2011 there was no real distinction between them and the government. Different Armed Ethnic Groups, including the KNLA, fought against this government for their own territory. In response the government started the ‘four cuts’ strategy which “sought to destroy links between insurgents, their families and local villagers, cutting four critical

12_{The only rapports of this time are from missionaries, which makes the information about the missionization} of the Karen subjective. Because of the importance of Christianity for the Karen I have decided to include it despite this subjectivity.

13_{This armed group has split numerous times after, including in a Buddhist and Christian section. To keep this} historic section understandable, I have not included this. I will briefly include an important separation later in this thesis.

14_{Much can be said about the national history of Burma, yet to be able to offer an overview I will only highlight} important moments. More information can be found in the Karen Human Rights Group (2017), Cheeseman & Farelly (2016) and Rajah (2002).

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pillars of support: food, funds, intelligence and recruits” (KHRG 2017, 24). As civilians were actively targeted this strategy led to mass-displacement between the 1960s and the 1990s, resulting in large refugee camps in Thailand. Since 1991 the Tatmadaw has also taken over much of the KNU territory, leading to even more displacement.

During this period there was unrest on a national level and a big uprising took place in 1988 when people openly called for democracy. The leader at the time stepped down and a second coup d’état took place two months later. While there was a military regime before, this new military regime showed its power by bringing changes. For instance, Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of general Aung San, was put under house arrest for co-leading the opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). Secondly, the regime issued the name change from Burma to Myanmar. In 2007 there was another revolution, this time started by Buddhist monks which was violently put down. But more positive developments happened as well. Since the 1990s the Tatmadaw and some EAGs were engaged in peace talks, which led to more ethnic inclusion in the 2010 elections (Farelly 2016). More about this election and the current political situation will follow in the next section.

Politics and peacebuilding

This section will focus on recent political history and the peacebuilding process, showing a path from the military regime towards a more democratic society. The NLD, with Aung San Suu Kyi, play a key part in this process. In an interview she says:

There are those who are of the opinion that without a military government there can be no real stability in Burma, but I do not think I agree with that because I think real stability can only come if a government of a country and the people of a country can work in unity and they have confidence in each other. A firm, strong authoritarian hand cannot create unity, it can only give the appearance of unity. (Aung San Suu Kyi)15

Striving for this kind of democracy she was banned from the 2010 elections, and in response the NLD boycotted the election. A quasi-military government, the Thein Sein, came in place in which all main leaders had a background in the military. However, different ethnic groups

15_{Aung San Suu Kyi, They Call it Myanmar: lifting the Curtain, directed by Robert H. Lieberman (2012).}

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were represented in this government (Farelly 2016, 13). Another important change was that Myanmar became more open to people and influences from outside. An example of this is that foreign aid increased by 788% in 2012 (NUPI 2018, XV). Also, in 2012 by-elections were held in which the NLD did participate. They won many of the seats they contested but remained a minority and silent in the political arena. When in 2015 national elections were held again, the NLD won over 60% of the seats of the Union Assembly. This break between the government and the Tatmadaw has a number of consequences. First, the latest constitution is written in 2008 and thus by military leadership. This constitution automatically ensures the Tatmadaw twenty-five per cent of seats in parliament, which means they have a veto over any constitutional amendments. The constitution also dictates that the ministers of defence, home affairs and border affairs, with their deputies, have to be either active duty or retired officers who are seconded by the commander-in-chief. Finally, it limits Aung San Suu Kyi from becoming president as any individual with foreign children is not allowed to be president. In summary this means that:

Political parties can dominate parliament, choose a president, vice-president and cabinet and pass legislation. But they cannot assume real command without military backing. Nor can they control military budgets or promotion structures. (Steinberg 2018)

The Tatmadaw thus remains an important actor in Myanmar’s politics, making democracy weak or, according to some, not existing. This brings us to the second consequence of the break which is that there is now another actor in the peace process. While in former peace negotiations the government/Tatmadaw negotiated with EAGs, now the government has to negotiate with both the Tatmadaw as the EAGs (Farelly 2016, 12).

Peacebuilding and the Karen

For the Karen the years since 2010 have been crucial as well. During the Thein Sein regime peace talks continued with leaders of different ethnic groups, including the KNU. This led to a signed ceasefire agreement in 2012 between ‘war machine’ KNU and the regime. In 2015 a Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) was signed under the Thein Sein between the Tatmadaw and eight of the fifteen EAGs in Burma. Among these eight EAGs are the three main Karen armed groups. One smaller Karen EAG, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army

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did not sign the cease fire agreement (KHRG 2017, 22-24). 16 The NCA is the only official document that mentions federalism, and since then negotiations have been ongoing to determine what this means (Dunant 2019). In line with the Panglong agreement of 1947, where ethnic groups decided to fight for independence together, a 21st century Panglong Peace Conference was held in May 2017. Here the discussion about federalism continued, but some key disagreements between EAGs and the Tatmadaw remained. These include “the objection by EAGs to a Tatmadaw proposal for the inclusion of a clause about non-secession and the refusal of the Tatmadaw to include clauses related to self-determination and state-level constitutions” (TBC 2017, 1). These disagreements about the peace process led the KNU to walk away from the peace negotiations in October 2018. Because of these issues in the official peace process, there is still a low confidence in the prospects of peace. Adding to this low confidence is the situation of conflict in Rakhine State and other parts of Myanmar. While in most of Kayin state violence is absent now, many underlying causes of conflict remain, making peace fragile.

The ‘Other’ Karen

Karen scientist Ardeth Maung Thawnghmung presents an important insight about the ‘Other’ Karen (2012) and my research took place among such ‘Other’ Karen. Being a Christian Karen, raised in Yangon under the military government, Thawnghmung argues that it is important to look at the ‘other’ Karen, those who do not take part in armed resistance. She convincingly argues that “The existence of these quiet Karen (…) has largely been ignored by conventional studies, which have focused predominantly on the Karen “insurgency” and “rebellion”” (Thawnghmung 2012, 4). Research is mainly done on the Thai border as until 2012 research inside Myanmar was very difficult. However, Karen living in this border area are often sympathetic to the KNU making the focus on Karen resistance even stronger. This focus has far reaching consequences in understanding the Karen. A first aspect of this is that only a small part of the Karen is involved in armed resistance. Thawnghmung estimates, as accurate statistics do not exist, that at least two million “Other” Karen exist with an estimated

16_{There are seven armed Karen groups, of which four are both acknowledged by the government and still} active. The main differences between these groups are religious and when they accepted peace agreements with the government. The KNU and its armed wings are mainly Christian, while the DKBA and related groups are Buddhist. For a detailed overview of signed and broken ceasefires see UNHCR Kayin State Profile (2014) and the Karen Human Rights Group (2017).

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number of 10.000 KNU members.17 As the “Other” Karen are the majority, this is an important group to understand further.

A second aspect is that through the focus on resistance the Karen are easily perceived as a rather homogenous group while there are a number of sub-ethnic and religious groups within the Karen. These different, competing identifications make it difficult to impose a uniform Karen identity (Thawnghmung 2011, ch4, 21). The leaders of the rebellion are mostly Christian, and through the focus on the rebellion the Karen are sometimes wrongly seen as predominantly Christian, while an estimation of 67-80% of Karen are Buddhist and only 15-30% Christian (UNHCR 2014, 3). Religious division is of importance both in the armed resistance as outside of it. An example from within the armed resistance is the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) who split from the KNU after they refused to remove officers who discriminated against non-Christian soldiers. When the Tatmadaw captured the KNU headquarters in 1995, the DKBA helped them to do this (Thawnghmung 2011, ch4, 21). For the ‘Other’ Karen religious diversity is often seen as an important factor as well as:

While individual Karen have developed personal relationships with fellow Karen from different religious backgrounds, they generally feel a closer affinity towards those from similar religious backgrounds and usually carry out activities under broad religious organizations. (Thawnghmung 2012, ch4, 21)

Participants in this research are divided about the importance of diversity mention here. Where one participant says religious conflict in Karen state was only in the past, another describes the frequent requests for prayer when yet another church was burned down or the caution they have now in speaking about a sensitive topic as religion. I will go into more detail about this topic in chapter six, as for now it is sufficient to note that when one speaks of the Karen, this is still a group sub-ethnically and religiously divided, with armed groups and ‘Other’ Karen, but united as Karen.

17_{The “Other” Karen in Myanmar is published in 2012, and these are the numbers available at that time.} Estimates on the number of Karen ranged between three and seven million. Besides KNU members and “Other” Karen this number includes Karen refugees and migrant workers in Thailand and those who have resettled. Renard (2012) estimated the number of KNU members to be higher as many Karen in conflict areas do support the KNU.

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Government education

Through all the changes in Myanmar education plays an important role both in the attempt to create a national identity and as a key grievance of ethnic minorities. Key issues of the government education system I will discuss in this next section are access to education, quality of education and inclusion of minorities in the current education system. I will then continue with discussing some of the parallel education systems that exist in Kayin state in the next paragraph.

Looking at access to education in Myanmar is difficult because of a lack of accurate data. This is mainly due to problems of collecting data in conflict affected areas and border regions. For this reason, the following statistics are probably not fully accurate, but I include them as they do give a general idea of access to education. On the level of primary education attendance is increasing. In 2000 more than 40% of children did not attend primary school, in 2010 84% did and this number is up to 92% in 2017 (Shah and Lopes Cardozo 2018, 11; UNICEF 2017). Attendance in secondary education is lower as many students drop out during primary school. These students are mainly “those who live in remote or border areas of the country, are from a lower socio-economic background, are refugees/IDPs, or are living under the threat or consequence of conflict and/or natural disaster.” (Shah and Lopes Cardoza 2018, 12). For this reason, only 59% of the students starts secondary education, and only 34% makes it to upper secondary education (UNICEF 2017).

The quality of government schools in Myanmar is very low. There are often not enough teaching materials, teacher are poorly trained and teaching methods are repetitive and exam focused (Lorch 2008). This is exemplified in the year 10 Matriculation exam that all students have to take, and which is decisive for their prospects of being able to attend university. This exam, as the rest of public education, is based on memorization of content and in 2018 only 35.05% of all students taking the exam passed it.18 The focus is on rote learning, and skills as critical thinking are not included in government schooling. To

demonstrate this one of the students of a post-secondary school I interviewed shared a story with me:

For example, in an essay in Burmese school they can’t write their own idea. They can’t. They have to follow the text book, read that and then copy that down that in an exam. So, as an example, someone told me about a primary school. There are 40

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students. Then they have a holiday for two weeks. Then later, after their holiday they come back to school. Then the teacher asked them to write down what they did in their holiday. They write down the different things, but the teacher said you all are wrong, you have to copy the textbook.19

This story is supported by academic research and many descriptions of government education given by different teachers and students of LFPSs and government universities and

exemplifies the focus on memorization of content and rote learning (Higgins, Maber, Lopes Cardozo and Shah 2016, Lorch 2008). However, since 2012 public spending on education has increased to improve the quality of and access to education and since 2016 the National Education Strategic Plan 2016-21 (NESP) forms the basis for reforms. This document promises a new curriculum, better teacher training and states that “the current emphasis on rote memorization of factual information in teaching, learning and assessment highlights the urgent need for a more balanced system of formative and summative assessment that assesses student learning against national learning standards.” (NESP Summary 2016, 17). Some improvements have already been made, such as a new curriculum for primary education and more access to education in rural areas. However, not everyone trusts these reforms. Speaking about matriculation a teacher told me: “It’s coming in two years, they will stop

[matriculation]. Then like, what is the plan next? No one knows, even you ask the ministry of education, they know nothing”.20

Another important issue is about the inclusion of ethnic minorities in government education. As in many other countries, the education system is used to create a national identity. This has happened since independence and continues until now. In an overview of education in Myanmar Shah and Lopes Cardozo (2018, 4-5) write that:

After 1962, Burmese was affirmed as the language of instruction and, with occasional variances, little space was given to the inclusion of other indigenous vernacular languages. A narrative was developed in the curriculum during the military regime that focused on stressing the “Burmannes” of the nation, stressing Burmese culture as the norm of national identity, and important for the sake of national unity.

19_{Interview, 17/12/2018}

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This centrality of “Burmannes” still exists in education. Burmese is still the language of instruction, although the NEL (2012) does give more space for learning ethnic languages. With the focus on Burmese culture, there is also a focus on Buddhism as religion and

under the banner of developing moral character amongst the student population, Buddhist cultural courses and rituals have increased in schools since the late 1990s along with content in textbooks. By contrast, references to other religions have been entirely omitted from schoolbooks” (Shah and Lopes Cardozo 2018, 15).

After the new reforms moral education and education towards a national identity will

continue, as “in Myanmar society, education is traditionally valued as a key determinant for social mobility and it is widely recognised as a critical building block for nation building, national unity and sustainable development” and the NESP will “Implement a modern education system that will promote all-around correct thinking and a good moral character contributing towards the building of the Nation” (NESP 2016, 12).

Parallel education systems

“When I was five to maybe around twelve I studied in my village. Until grade 8 for me.”21 Champa22 starts the list of schools he has attended. “Then after that I stopped studying. Then when I start again, not in government school anymore. I change to Karen school. KED, Karen Education Department. I changed to there, I studied one year. After that I applied for a summer school in Mae Sot. (…) Then I took application for academic year, then I passed it. So last year I studied there. And I applied to higher education program again, but finally I failed. So, at the time I have no more chance to go, to study.” A teacher then recommended him to apply at New Horizons Education, where he was accepted in the pre-General

Educational Development (GED) class. Champa is educated in different systems of education, which is common in Kayin state. Outside of the government system of education, the KNU has its own education under the Karen Education Department (KED). As the schools of the ‘war machine’ this system is focused on countering “the ideological and political dominance of the Myanmar state while preserving and reconstructing Karen culture, history and

nationhood. (Oh, Walker and Thako 2019, 2). There are 1573 such schools in Myanmar, and

21_{Interview, 14/01/2019.}

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55 in the refugee camps in Thailand (idem.). Oh, Walker and Thako (2019,3) argue that these schools can be seen as “battlefields of sovereignty” as both ‘State’ and ‘war machine’ want to provide education and influence youth. On a national level the meaning of federalism is unclear, yet local schools give insight in what this might mean. For example, the KED is fully separate from the national Ministry of Education (MOE). Since the 2000s they are seeking to participate in dialogues about education. However, the state considers the MOE the rightful administrators of education in Myanmar and considers the KED a part of ‘war machine’ KNU and does not recognize their education. This struggle of what federalism could mean for education is seen as an example of a wider struggle to define federalism (Oh, Walker, Thako 2019).

Apart from education under the MOE or the KED there are also religious schools. The largest group of religious schools is monastic education. This system of education is the oldest form of education in Myanmar, and still has an important position in the educational

landscape. Over 1,500 monastic schools are registered by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and those registered use the government curriculum but also teach about Buddhism (Shah and Lopes Cardozo 2018). As no fees are changed, these schools are able to reach the poorest children. Apart from Monastic schools there are also Christian schools. Some of these schools have been set up by missionaries but local churches have also established schools. More about these schools will be said in chapter six.

The final category of schools I want to highlight are what I call schools in the smooth space. These are independent schools outside of the State and outside of the ‘war machine’. It is a broad category that fits both Christian schools, as they are outside of government

education, and ‘post-secondary’ schools, a term coming from the border to describe schools that form an alternative to university. This thesis will focus on these schools, and how they build capacity for social change from the smooth space.

To conclude

Myanmar has a complicated history marked by dictatorship and conflict. The Karen, an ethnic group existing of different sub-ethnicities and religions, have been in conflict for more

autonomy for over 60 years. Since 2012 cease fires have been signed, yet there is still a distrust to these agreements and discussions are ongoing about what federalism would look like. Education is a grievance for many Karen as it is in Burmese, focused on the Burmese

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perspective and associated with Buddhism. Using the framework of the 4Rs one can say there are issues of inequality in all the four areas of redistribution, recognition, representation and reconciliation. However, education it is not a part of the official peace process. Because of these issues multiple parallel education systems have been established, for instance by the KED, faith-based organizations and autonomous schools in the smooth space. This thesis will mainly be about schools in this last category. I will show how these schools work towards social change in development, democratic citizenship and peace from the smooth space.