As Maubin High School Principle
The A.B.M. (American Baptist Mission) Middle School in Maubin that was closed down during World War II appeared to be well equipped for modern education and thus, after the war, a Karen patriot, Saya Mahn Kya Hlaing, took a long look at the school premises and began to think to himself, “ if only I can reopen this school, it would be very beneficial to the Karen people”. However, to upgrade that school to a high school, there was the difficulty of finding a qualified principal, who had to be a college graduate.
Saya Mahn Kya Hlaing thought he had the very person in mind, and one day inquired, “ Saw Ba Zan, just look at this school. If we can do this for our Karen nationals, it would be great. You have a Bachelor’s degree and can be the Principal. Would you do that?”
In serving as a principal, there would be the enormous assistance and benefit to the people of our nationality, while having the opportunity to organize and educate the younger generation, and with those thoughts in mind, he accepted the offer. The Maubin Karen High School, a private institution, was thus established.
About the business of starting the Maubin Karen High School, Mahn Ba Zan noted, “We said that we were going to get a school going, and yet we had nothing; what we had to procure were funding and teachers!”
Priority in this education business had to be given to teachers. Former A.B.M. School teachers were jobless at that point. Those teachers were well-qualified, experienced, with full affection and dedication to their own people, and were all certified.
The job of locating and staffing the necessary male and female teachers was successful and adequate only up to the 7th Standard (grade). For fulfilling the High School requirements, Sayagyi Mahn Kya Hlaing and he took responsibility. There were also the functions of organizing and arranging for board and room for students who came from surrounding villages and outlying countryside.
When the school was opened, the food problem of dormitory students who came from outlying areas was solved by obtaining 20 baskets of rice from Saya Mahn Kya Hlaing. For the students from the regions to come and get their education, Mahn Ba Zan’s comment was, “ As the President of the local KNU (Karen National Union), I convened a meeting and told them that the Nationality High School was to be established. We had discussions on sending their students from the surrounding areas in the district, and as a result, students did arrive from these outlying towns and villages, which had enabled us to plant the (Karen) nationality school.”
When the school was first opened, fees were obtained from the students to pay for the salaries of the teachers, and also to procure provisions for the student boarders as well as for water and electricity. From the very beginning, all agreed that the staff – primary, middle and high school teachers, and also the principal, would each be paid uniformly at 40 kyats a month. Since this school was opened on the basis of patriotic sentiment for our own people, the surrounding villages also supported the school with staples such as rice and chilly peppers. The problems regarding essentials for sustenance for the teaching staff, male and female students were thereby satisfactorily resolved.
Although there were already three children and he was serving as Maubin district KNU president as well as the National High School principal, Mahn Ba Zan still had to depend on his parents’ support. Concerning this state of affairs, he expressed himself as follows:
“My father’s intention of having put me through college with the Bachelor of Arts degree was to see that I obtained a job as a Civil Service official, and since things turned out otherwise, the old man was quite angry. An incident that hurt me so much occurred just before the school session began. One day, my three children, Robert, Chaw Chaw Sein and Baldwin, wanted to have some cakes sold by a wandering vendor, and since I was quite broke, I could not buy the stuff for them. So they went to their grandfather and told him that they wanted to eat the cakes. At that point, the grandpa jeered, ‘Sure, go to your great politician father who will buy them for you.’ I was really distressed and began to wonder, ‘in pursuing this volition, my children have become impoverished, and my father disapproved of it, maybe it might be better to resume my Civil Service career.’”
The National High School was founded on the principle of corporate leadership. And even though the monthly salary was 40 kyats, in times of emergency or personal need, there was a reserve fund to tap into. Therefore, there was unity and cooperation among all the teachers.
The school adopted a new teaching method: Not only did the students not get any more physical punishment but they were taught the principles of moral behavior and civics. They were also allowed to establish their student association, and were given partial guidance in their association activities along with training in organizational duties.
The teaching staff of both genders were well qualified and dedicated, enabling them to interest and motivate the students in their studies, and this had resulted in their improved academic standing. Although it was said to be a High School, the highest Standard (or grade) was the 8th. At that time, eight students in the 8th grade were chosen to enter the government High School (10th grade) examination, and six successfully passed it. Because of this academic achievement, students from the government High School wanted to transfer over to study in this school. But they had to be politely denied admittance.
In the first year, there were about 300 students. The following year saw the student body increased to over 700. This was progress. Since Mahn Ba Zan had to give his main efforts to the nationality’s affairs, he had no time to pay attention to the school. The main performer for the school was the great teacher Mahn Kya Hlaing. He had intended to even raise the school from High School to College level.
The school gradually had expanded and become larger. Nationality students, school girls and school boys, attending the school were inspired to be loving and loyal to their own people, producing in them the spirit of nationality patriots. This situation was not viewed favorably by the AFPFL government, which attempted to change it from a private institution to government school, and in the process, offering higher wages for the teaching staff.
The status of a government school was refused, although acceptance was made to make it a government-recognized school. The monthly wages of both male and female teachers in the government school at that time were 40 kyats for Primary, 120 for Middle, and 240 for High School teachers. However, this AFPFL meddling was overcome by agreeing on the monthly salaries for this school as 80 kyats for Primary, 110 for Middle and 120 for High School teachers.
The next year saw another interference from the KYO (Karen Youth Organization). The school was instituted and established by the KNU leader Mahn Ba Zan, which displeased the KYO Mahn Win Maung et. al. They therefore sent over two lady teachers with B. Ed (Bachelor of Education) degrees, from their own organization. Their presence was merely to be a hindrance to progress of the school.
The two KYO teachers objected to the Th’Din-Kyut midterm (October) School vacation of one month, and proposed only a ten-day School closure. But that proposal was rejected. Furthermore, the plan to hold an all-schools exhibition on February 11, 1948 in Maubin city was also objected by them. Such objection was regarded by the students as ‘you the disloyal people’, and thus their interference with the student body was defeated.
One day a Karen Divisional Education Officer inquired, “Hello, Mahn Ba Zan, you are the Principal of the school, correct? How are you doing as the Principal?”. “Well, to also work for the people I have to carry on in this manner, your honor,” was Mahn Ba Zan’s reply. At that juncture, the entire nationality was enthusiastically involved for the people, and the Education Officer had no objections.
About the name change from Saw Ba Zan to Mahn Ba Zan, Mahn Ba Zan had this to say:
“I’d like to say a little about the prefix ‘Mahn’. It’s not for any particular reason. We have this preference among our Karen people. The question was whether this organization was led by a Sgaw or a Pwo Karen. For me, I don’t need it, so long as the leader was a Pwo or Sgaw. Therefore, I simply changed my prefix from Saw Ba Zan to Mahn Ba Zan. I thus became Mahn Ba Zan. It was not because I was too attached to or attracted by the Pwo Karen. But on the one side, it was to organize the large Pwo Karen population, to get the Pwo Karens participate in the revolution. If not done this way, the Pwo Karens would not be comfortable in this process. Because, we the ‘Mahns’ were also involved and they were delighted. It was just to achieve success in our work.”
Since this school had been successful in academic achievement, with the school’s entire student body having participated in demonstrations, and itself having been the KNU School, the AFPFL government could not at all stand the sight. When the Karens began their revolution on January 31st, 1949, the K.N.D.O. (Karen National Defense Organization) was declared illegal, and the School was torched and destroyed.
Even though the AFPFL government set fire to the Karen National High school and it was burned down and destroyed, in the heart of all the Karen people, the hope and belief have always been for the establishment of such High Schools, Colleges, Medical Schools, Engineering and Industrial institutions, Military Academies, etc.
It is the hope and belief that the studying utterances and recitations of school children, their plays and music, and the school bells would one day overwhelm the horrible noise, explosions of mortars, artillery and bombs of the skies of our Karen fatherland.
Thus ended the National School Principal career of Mahn Ba Zan with the burned out Maubin Karen National High School.
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