WB, Australia pledge $100m in education for Burma

The World Bank and Australia have pledged US$100 million in assistance to improve education for millions of Burmese students. Representatives from the World Bank signed an agreement on 11 October with Burmese government representatives at the World Bank’s annual meeting in Washington to initiate a project that will provide schooling to some 8.2 million students from poor backgrounds and rural areas in Burma. The World Bank is to fund some $80 million of the programme, via its International Development Association arm, while Canberra has pledged to make up the remaining $20 million through its Myanmar Partnership Multi-Donor Trust Fund. Kyaw Soe Lin, the World Bank’s Myanmar information officer told DVB that the funding is geared towards helping schools most in need. ‘The programme has two parts – the first is to generate more budget for schools, while the second is to provide grants to students to allow them to continue their education,’ he said, according to dvb.no