A school in Myanmar

Burma

This was the name of the country until the 80s

> 53m

people live in the neighbouring country of China and Thailand

Naypyidaw

is the capital of the country since 2005

The Phaung Daw Oo school is located in Mandalay, the second largest city in the country in the heart of Myanmar. The school is attended by more than 8000 students aged 5 to 17 from grade one to graduation. The school was founded by the Buddhist priest U Nayaka in 1993. Since then, teaching has been in the hands of Buddhist monks. Nowadays, the school is one of the largest private educational institutions in the country and has long maintained a strong partnership with two support associations from Saarbrücken, which were founded by the couple Christian and Ilse Runge.

Today, the school offers a wide range of schooling and education programmes, from kindergarten to regular schooling with 10 years of schooling up to the secondary school degree. The school also offers important care services for people in the surrounding areas: residence halls, primary health care and an orphanage. Hörmann sponsored the expansion and projects of the Buddhist Phaung Daw Oo school in Myanmar from 2002 to 2010.

In 2011, a new association named Myanmar Partner was founded. Since then, it has focused on the development and expansion of the “Marfels Ground” training centre, which is located about 40 minutes away from the school. Here, young graduates have the opportunity to complete a professional training as a gardener and landscaper or as a hotel manager, to name just a few examples. The construction and expansion of the premises and school operations has been sponsored by Hörmann since the beginning.

Overview of our commitment

Construction of a residence hall

From 2006 to 2007, a new residence hall was constructed on the campus of the Phaung Daw Oo school. Hörmann supported and sponsored the construction of the four-floor building. Along with the living and sleeping quarters, the kitchen of the Phaung Daw Oo school is also located here.

Construction of a carpenter's workshop with training workshop

In 2007, Hörmann supported the construction of a new carpenter's workshop at the Phaung Daw Oo school. A training workshop for apprentices is attached to the carpenter's workshop. Since its completion, the carpenter's workshop now regularly hosts training classes. The workshop primarily manufactures items for the school's own use. By now, it also accepts external orders, which in turn contributes to the financing of the school.

Gardening and landscaping

The school started a school garden in 2008, which mainly provides vegetables for the school kitchen. Between 2010 and 2014, secondary school graduates trained as gardening and landscaping specialists at Marfels Ground. The agricultural training course not only created promising jobs, but also highlighted the model of the dual professional training system in Myanmar.

Construction of a training hotel

The Phaung Daw Oo school has introduced the dual professional training system for hotel management staff, which has proven itself in Germany. Hörmann sponsored the construction of a training hotel with four apartments in 2019. As a result, the prospective hotel professionals can now put their skills from theory into practice and practise them in the “Hörmann House”, for example.

A talk with Christian and Ilse Runge

Christian and Ilse Runge founded Myanmar Partner e. V. and have been active in development aid for many years. In the interview conducted in 2017, the two talk about their experiences in Myanmar and the developments and challenges on location at the time.

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