A school community is not just a building. It’s the various individuals and groups who are invested in the welfare and vitality of the school, for example, the neighborhoods and municipalities.

In November 2017, the Acronis Cyber Foundation officially opened a school in the Ata, Kyaukpadaung Township in Myanmar. We recently caught up with the School Principal and she shared about changes, challenges and opportunities.

The school experienced disappointment in 2017-2018 when none of the students passed the final exam. But they started seeing changes in 2018-2019 when three out of twenty students passed. And in 2019-2020, six out of seven passed the exam.

She emphasizes the importance of having the right teaching equipment to facilitate learning. The Government has provided limited tools like flutes for music lessons. But for other subjects, the Government does not pay, and there is a lack of tools. The school also struggle with a lack of teachers. Two of them have been transferred and there is a shortage of qualified teachers.

The school library is now to be enlarged so that the children are even more motivated to read. Writing is not difficult for many of them; the Principal proudly tells us that they won the community prize in the Essay Writing Competition and in Mathematics.

Education is powerful. She shares that some students dream of becoming teachers. “And who knows, maybe in a few years, one of the children attending the school right now, will be a School Principal here itself”, she says.