Growing Together, Yangon (Rangoon), Myanmar  

Growing Together is a non-profit educational project located in Myanmar (Burma). Our objective is to elevate the standard of education for people from low-income families in and around Yangon (Rangoon). Growing Together's grassroots approach to teaching creates a successful model of English and Primary education, and emphasizes a curriculum that is both holistic and playful. Due to the lack of quality English instruction in public schools, and an abundance of desire on the part of local students, our programmes are in increasingly high demand.

Background
Over the past few decades, the standard of public education in Myanmar has deteriorated drastically. In response to this decline, a number of private international schools have been established in recent years offering a higher quality of education to children from privileged families. In most cases the monthly student fees in these schools are substantially higher than the annual income of a public school teacher. This has led to an increasing social disparity between those who can afford to pay for education and those who cannot. The education students receive in public schools in largely insufficient, and only the elite have access to the extra instruction that private schools provide. This greatly decreases the chances of students from poor families competing for admission to higher education or further career training. In Myanmar today quality jobs are rare, even for those who possess such levels of education. Growing Together is an initiative to provide young people with the best possible opportunity to realize their potential, to overcome the obstacles present in their society as well as the current crisis in education.

Preschool
Growing Together's preschool project campus was inaugurated in October 2005 after more than a year's research, networking and experimental teaching, with the aim of meeting the needs of children in the present society in the best possible way. It is an attempt to provide a foundation for a lifetime of passionate learning from a preschool level onward. As of March 2006, the school will be providing courses to upwards of one hundred students of various age and proficiency levels. Fostering young people's intellectual skills and confidence as well as the awareness of their own potential is of the utmost importance. At our school the learning experience is shared by all, we are all Growing Together.

Farming
Besides the school we are running a farming project, cultivating paddy and we are hoping to open up to grow other crops as well, but more expertise in this field is needed.

Volunteers
Volunteers could help us with teaching, science, maths, arts (painting, dance, music/singing, sign language and drama) and English, possibly adding other languages such as Spanish, Chinese, and any major Indian language.