US Aid Cuts Leave Myanmar Students at Risk of a Lost Future

[geovalin]

The Irrawaddy

 

Funding cuts to life-saving education programmes in Myanmar have triggered urgent warnings from Amnesty International, which says the collapse of such initiatives could condemn a generation to hardship and fear amid ongoing conflict.

 

More than $70 million in US support for Myanmar’s education system—once a vital lifeline in the wake of the 2021 military coup—has been slashed under President Donald Trump’s renewed foreign aid cuts. These included the abrupt cancellation of a landmark Diversity and Inclusion Scholarship Programme (DISP), which provided safe, remote study opportunities for students fleeing war zones.

 

“The US decision risks turning a fragile education recovery into a complete collapse,” said Joe Freeman, Myanmar researcher for Amnesty International. “It’s not just about missed lessons—it’s about sending young people back into danger zones where they face bombs, arrests and forced conscription.”

 

Since the coup, thousands of schools have been shuttered, bombed, or repurposed as makeshift classrooms in private homes. Teachers have faced arrests, while students live in constant fear of military air strikes. Against this bleak backdrop, US-funded initiatives offered rare stability—supporting online learning, regional university placements, and basic education in hard-hit ethnic regions.

 

DISP alone aimed to assist 1,000 students, placing them in universities across Southeast Asia. For students like 18-year-old Miranda, who fled gunfire and shelling before earning a scholarship to study tourism in the Philippines, it was a second chance at life. “When I got the scholarship, it was like a golden chance to start again,” she said. “Now, if we go back to Myanmar, we’ll be lost again.”

 

The cancellation of DISP was among Trump’s first moves after returning to office, with the programme publicly targeted for its focus on diversity and inclusion. Students, educators, and NGOs now fear a vacuum that other donors may struggle to fill.

 

Amnesty is urging the international community to act quickly. “If the US won’t step up, others must,” Freeman said. “Governments, universities, and philanthropies have a chance to prevent a lost generation.”

 

As Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis deepens—worsened by a 7.7-magnitude earthquake in March that killed 4,000 and destroyed over 1,000 schools—the need for sustained education support is growing more urgent by the day.

 

-2025-05-09

[NickyLouie]

Quote

More than $70 million in US support for Myanmar’s education system

 

 

Yeah I'm sure someone is missing that monthly stipend and it ain't no poor student in Burma 

 

[Trippy]

I think it's time for rich Australia to step up and start taking care of poor SEA countries.

[frank83628]

So, no other countries are sending aid at all?

How much of the 70m actually reaches the kids?

How's Bannorks Zimbabwean friends doing since the aid cut? No mention of them since