By Sandra Davie

MYANMAR - TO DISENCHANTED parents with the means to send their children abroad, Singapore has emerged as the No. 1 study destination.

They still look up to Britain, their past colonial master, as having the best institutions. With spiralling inflation and a mismanaged economy, though, Singapore is more within their reach in terms of cost.

Their children are also more likely to be granted visas to study in Singapore. Western countries, such as the United States, Britain and Australia, have imposed sanctions on the ruling military government since it brutally quelled a people's uprising in 1988. They are also stringent in granting Myanmar nationals student visas.

According to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), which recently held an education fair in Yangon that saw a crush of over 2,000 attendees, Singapore also scores for its physical and cultural proximity to Myanmar.

STB director of education services John Gregory Conceicao says Singapore is attractive because of the work opportunities it provides for those who wish to 'kick-start their career in a global city'.

Yangon-based Singapore education specialists Nelson Nay Lynn Phyo, 30, and James Aung Kyaw San, 37, add that Singapore's low crime rate and 'safe haven' reputation are especially appealing to Myanmar parents. Indeed, Myanmar mum Madam Zhaw Min Min, a 44-year-old housewife who has a daughter studying at PSB Academy in Singapore, agrees: 'I don't have sleepless nights when my daughter is out late.'

No official figures are available on how many Myanmar students head to Singapore every year, but rough estimates are around 1,000 a year. About half enrol in secondary schools, polytechnics and universities.

Government institutions are preferred because they offer high-quality education at affordable prices. Foreign students still receive a generous fee subsidy - 50 per cent in the case of university students.

The other half who fail to qualify for polytechnics and universities head for diploma and degree courses in business, tourism and nursing at private schools like the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), PSB Academy and the Tourism Management Institute of Singapore (TMIS).

Currently, there are about 7,000 Myanmar youth enrolled in public and private schools in Singapore.

According to private schools here, Myanmar is the fastest-growing student market and one well worth mining. STB reports that Singapore's private schools hold at least one to two seminars or information sessions every week in Myanmar.

'Big money in Myanmar.'

THIS pent-up demand for Singapore education is evident at two education fairs held one Saturday in July.

By 9.30am, half an hour before the talk by TMIS is due to start at the Traders Hotel in central Yangon, all 70 seats are snapped up. The private school, a subsidiary of the National Association of Travel Agents Singapore, provides certificates to degree courses in travel- and tourism- related areas.

The audience listens, enthralled as Mr Andy Koh, TMIS' head of international recruitment, lists the many work opportunities available in Singapore's travel and tourism industry.

They nod eagerly and lap up the news that thousands more in new jobs will be available when the two integrated resorts are ready in 2010.

At the end of his talk, Mr Koh urges them to talk to other Myanmar parents who have reaped the rewards of sending their children to Singapore.

The audience is directed to two beaming Myanmar mothers, Madam Mya Mya Win, 44, and Madam Khin Than Htwe, 61, ensconced in raised cane VIP seats in front of the stage.

There are audible gasps when Madam Khin tells them of her daughter, Ms Ei Swe Hhet, who in her 30s left for Singapore to do a certificate course in tourism and travel studies at TMIS. On finishing her one-year-course, she landed a job with a travel agency in Singapore.

What is more, she has been granted an S-pass, which is given only to semi- skilled workers, earning over $1,800 a month. 'Big money in Myanmar,' remarks one of the parents, who decides on the spot on TMIS for her son.

The median monthly wage in Myanmar is about US$30.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Oct 11, 2008.

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