Hpa-An TTS

You can download the Hpa-An Technical Training School brochure here.

The Programs at Hpa-an Technical Training School

The Hpa-an Technical Training School, which built by together Ministry of Boarder Affairs and Japanese NGO in 2004, and Sustainabridge took over its management funded by The Nippon Foundation in2020.

Hpa-an Technical Training School has been providing technical vocational training to those in the region who are young and have not had educational opportunities. 

The technical training is offered in four courses: automobile repair, electrical engineering, welding, and construction. Each course lasts 5.5 months (660 hours) and is offered twice a year.

Course Name

Length and Frequency

Enrollment Limit

Automobile

5.5 months/course x 2 per year

30 people/course

Electricity

5.5 months/course x 2 per year

20 people/course

Welding

5.5 months/course x 2 per year

20 people/course

Construction

5.5 months/course x 2 per year

20 people/course

Upon completion of a course, students are expected to land a job by leveraging technical know-how and experiences they acquired through vocational training at the school. Therefore, the content of the technical training has been carefully selected to meet the needs of local employers as well as those in Yangon.

The training content at Hpa-an Technical Training School meets such a high standard that it has been designated as the government’s standard curriculum by Myanmar’s Department of Technical Vocational Education and Training, Ministry of Border Affairs. Classes (both content and practical skills) and examinations are administered in compliance with this standard curriculum. Students are required to attend a minimum number of days of classes and pass an examination in order to successfully complete a technical vocational training course.

Objectives

Hpa-an Technical Training School was launched in 2014 in hope that it would contribute to nationwide development, play a part in the East–West Economic Corridor, and support future reconstruction in Myanmar.

Later, in 2015, Myanmar’s government and eight armed ethnic groups, including the Karen National Union (KNU), signed a ceasefire agreement, bringing an end to the majority of the country’s 70+ years conflict. Our primary goal is to have the youths, who have been deprived of educational opportunities due to the domestic conflict, acquire skill sets to make a living.

After the shift to civilian rule in 2012, a tide of economic development has conferred benefits to many people, though skewed toward those who are in Yangon. A gap between such places as Yangon and truce zones like Hpa-an with a shortage of educated personnel is widening further.

We are afraid that the widening gap might cast a shadow over peace in these truce regions. More and more households in Yangon are spending money on education, while many families in rural area are living from hand to mouth. It is possible that society in Myanmar might become distorted after a few generations, which could backpedal the progressing peace negotiation.

There are negative effects of economic liberalization that are spotlighted in these sensitive situations. We are also aware of the conflicts of interest where these truce regions stand. Our objectives are to have the youths in these regions learn marketable skills to make a living. We believe that alleviating poverty and the wealth gap by doing so will solidly promote sustainable peace and stability in these regions.

Outcome

Since its inception in January, 2014, Hpa-an Technical Training School has provided technical vocational trainings to 832 youths, 772 of whom have graduated.  According to the results of a monitoring survey conducted six months after each course, 641 graduates (83%) landed a job, and 542 of these jobs are related to skills the graduates learned at the school. (As of the end of August, 2019.)

Our graduates found a job not only in Karen State, but also in big cities like Yangon and Mandalay. Ten percent of those who landed a job were hired by Japanese companies. Some companies repeatedly hire our graduates because those companies value our graduates’safety awareness and group living experiences in addition to their basic technical skills.

School Management

One of our goals at Hpa-an Technical Training School is to have local personnel administer the school eventually themselves. Therefore, we have asked the Ministry of Border Affairs of Myanmar to get aboard to jointly administer the school.

Not only focusing on technical training courses for the youths, we are also nurturing local instructors in Myanmar. We are educating Myanmar government officials from the Department of Education and Training to become instructors.

We never settle for the status quo of our technical training and instructor nurturing programs. That is why we also invite experts from Japan regularly and ask them to improve our training programs.

Furthermore, all students enrolled in the technical training courses live together in the dormitory on campus. This policy aims at having students learn general education and life skills in addition to technical training during that time. As school events, we organize social studies field trips, classes by guest lecturers, sports events, etc., through which students will improve their quality of life as a member of society.

A Change of Administering Organization

Hpa-an Technical Training School had been administered by a non-profit corporation, Bridge Asia Japan (BAJ), since the hatching stage until December 2019. The NGO Sustainabridge has succeeded to the administration position from BAJ. From now on, Sustainabridge will take charge of administering the technical training school, while General Incorporated Association of Sustainabridge supports and audits it, guaranteeing an equally high-quality technical training as before and making utmost efforts to ensure that our students can earn a living in the future.