Hope after the earthquake: FCA supports teachers and students in Mandalay
A 7.7-magnitude earthquake that struck Myanmar in 2025 devastated communities across Mandalay Region, destroying homes, damaging schools, and sparking fires that reduced entire neighborhoods to ash. FCA Myanmar, through the ACT Appeal project, is working to restart education at a hard-hit monastic school in Maha Aung Myay Township where displaced families sought refuge.
Text and photos: FCA Myanmar
WHEN THE EARTHQUAKE tore through Myanmar on March 28th, the ground shook with a force that shattered homes, cracked school buildings, and sent families fleeing for safety. In some areas of Mandalay Region, the earthquake triggered fires that burned entire wards to ash, leaving families with nothing but the clothes they wore as they ran.
In Maha Aung Myay Township, among the neighbourhoods hardest hit, the Yadanar San monastic school became both a sanctuary and a symbol of survival. It is here that FCA Myanmar, under the ACT Appeal project, is supporting teachers and students to restart learning and rebuild hope.
A teacher’s promise to her community
Daw Cho, 54 is a volunteer Teacher at Yadanar San Monastic School.Standing in front of her Grade 3 classroom, she carries a lifetime of devotion to education.
Born in Sagaing but raised in Mandalay, she is one of seven siblings, all educated, she proudly explains, because her two eldest siblings sacrificed their own schooling.
“I know what education can do,” she says. “It lifted my whole family.”
She became a teacher at 24, teaching physics and biology before spending decades in civil service. Even then, she continued teaching part-time whenever she could. In 2023, after retiring from her work, she returned to the place she grew up, now as a volunteer teacher at Yadanar San Monastic School.
Then the earthquake hit.
Walls cracked, buildings collapsed, and the surrounding ward was devastated by fire. Families who were already struggling with poverty suddenly found themselves without homes. Many moved into temporary shelters, relying on daily wages for food and survival.
Even so, children kept coming to her classroom.
“I cannot force parents to send their children,” she says gently. “But when a child arrives, I take full responsibility. They are mine to protect and guide.”
Today, she teaches Myanmar language and literature and science to Grade 3 students. From the monastery, she receives a small honorarium. Through FCA Myanmar’s support, she now also receives a stipend of 200,000 MMK(about 80 EUR), along with teaching materials like books, pens, and supplies that lighten the burden on both her and the school.
FCA’s training on child protection, mental health support, youth health, and disaster risk reduction has also transformed her approach.
“I can now give them more than lessons,” she says. “I can give them life skills, emotional support, and safety.”
For families here, education often comes second to daily survival.
“If they don’t earn today, they don’t eat today,” she explains. “But without education, the poverty circle continues. I want to help break that circle.”
Her voice is quiet but unwavering: “I want the children from this place, my place, to have a chance, to get access to education like I did.”
A student with big dreams in a small home
When the earthquake struck, 14-year-old Ma Thiri grabbed her pet dog and ran. She remembers the ground heaving, people shouting, and thick smoke rising as fire spread through Thel Gyin, the ward she calls home.
Her family survived, but their house did not.
For weeks, they slept in a temporary shelter. Today, Thiri lives with her father, grandfather, aunt, and older sister in a small space provided by her father’s workplace. Five people share a room.
“It doesn’t feel like home,” she says softly. “I feel suffocated sometimes as I have to live with another family. But I study, and I try to be strong.”
Her mother left the family months ago, a topic she rarely speaks about. Instead, she talks about her father’s promise: “He said he will support my education, no matter what, until I graduate.”
Among four siblings, only one finished high school. Her father believes the grade 7 student can go further.
“Engineer,” she says when asked about her dream. “I want to be an engineer.”
Despite everything she has faced, Thiri is determined to excel. She attends classes at Yadanar San monastic school from 9 am to 3 pm, practises English in the evenings, and studies Chinese on Saturdays. At home, even in the cramped shared space, she spreads her books neatly and does her homework every day.
From FCA Myanmar, she received a student kit, books, a schoolbag, pens, and a compact math geometry box, items she treasures. She now studies in a safer temporary learning space furnished through the project.
These small tools mean more to her than objects. “They help me continue,” she says. “They remind me to keep trying.”
She dreams of being the brightest star in her family and she believes she can, just as her father believes in her.
FCA’s education in emergencies support in Myanmar’s Mandalay region
Through the ACT Appeal, FCA Myanmar, with local partner HAND (Harmony for Nexus Development) is supporting earthquake-affected schools in four townships: Maha Aung Myay, Myit Thar, Pyin Oo Lwin, and Aung Myay Thar San.
So far, FCA has reached: 1,247 students and 89 teachers across 4 fully supported schools with ongoing support for 9 additional schools.
Support includes teaching & learning materials, student kits, school furniture for TLS, teacher stipends, and teacher training on CP, MHPSS, and DRR.
This support allows teachers like Daw Cho to continue teaching and students like Thiri to keep dreaming, even in the most difficult circumstances.
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