CWS Asia Pacific, in collaboration with Myanmar Marketing Committee (MMC) has built three primary schools in three villages in Dedaye township, where 196 students will resume their study in June 2009 after their summer break. MMC has also sent school benches, desks and blackboards to each school in March 2009. As part of CWS Asia Pacific commitment, the work to revive the education sector in Myanmar (Burma) needs to continue as education is deemed as a way out of poverty.

The initiative to revive education sector in cyclone Nargis-affected areas didn’t stop at rebuilding schools, but was extended to providing school kits i.e. school uniforms, exercise books, pencils, rulers, pencil sharpeners, erasers and pencil cases. Additional items unique to the school kits were umbrellas and rubber slippers, the perfect tools to combat the monsoon season in June. They will be distributed in June 2009.

MMC planned to formally handover the school to each school principal in June 2009. The handover will include school buildings maintenance. Eventually, the school committee and principal will formally hand over the school to the local education authority. CWS Asia Pacific is committed to continue its support in reviving the education sector of Nargis-affected communities in the Delta of Irrawaddy, Myanmar (Burma). The work of CWS Asia Pacific and MMC in rebuilding schools needs to continue as Nargis cyclone has damaged or destroyed 4,100 schools and disrupted the education of an estimated 500,000 children.

Together with SEEDS Asia, CWS Asia Pacific is looking forward to link the school reconstruction activity with capacity building activity in community-based disaster risk management. The capacity building activity aims at preparing the community for forthcoming disasters in cyclone-prone country such as Myanmar (Burma).