Underground educators in war-torn Myanmar are using community storytelling to recapture their histories and celebrate ethnic identities, thanks to a project led by an Aberystwyth University academic.

Dr Yi Li, a historian of modern Southeast Asia, is working with community educators in Myanmar’s marginalised ethnic schools and community schools for refugee children on both sides of the Thai-Myanmar border.

Education in Myanmar has been significantly interrupted since the military coup d'état in February 2021 and the continuing conflict between the military junta and the resistance forces.

It is estimated that only 22 per cent of eligible students are enrolled in high school level studies.

Dr Li, from the Department of History and Welsh History at Aberystwyth University said: “The education crisis in Myanmar is particularly acute in ethnic autonomous areas such as the Karenni region, where a third of the population has been displaced with no access to formal education, and students and teachers are unable or unwilling to attend military-run schools.

“Our project is cooperating with an existing community-based network to continue providing emergency education to grassroots schools and informal classrooms in the conflict zones with limited resources.”

The project aims to combat instability by encouraging teachers to make use of storytelling.