Basic Education High School No. 9 Mawlamyine

Shin Maha Buddhaghosa High School
School in the 1990s
Address
Pabedan Street Mawlamyine, Mon State Myanmar
Information
Type	Public
Established	1899
Founder	Sāsanādhāra Society
School number	9
Principal	Daw Mi Mi Khaine
Grades	1-11
Number of students	~2500

Basic Education High School No. 9 Mawlamyaing (Burmese: အခြေခံ ပညာ အထက်တန်း ကျောင်း အမှတ် (၉) မော်လမြိုင်; commonly known by its colonial name, Shin Maha Buddhaghosa National School (Burmese: ရှင် မဟာဗုဒ္ဓဂေါသ အမျိုးသား ကျောင်း) is located on Pabedan Street, Mawlamyine (formerly Moulmein).

Founded by the Sāsanādhāra Society in 1899 during the British colonial period, the school produced notable writers and politicians who played a role in the Burmese independence movement. Today, the school remains one of the most prestigious high schools in the city. It maintains a diverse student body consisted of students from various financial and ethnic backgrounds.

Before the British colonial period, the education system in Burma was primarily driven by Buddhist monasteries at least since the 11th century. The Buddhist monastic school system gave Burma a literacy rate considerably higher than those of other Asian countries in the early 1900s. In the colonial period, the British administration and Christian missionaries founded Western education centers including St. Patrick's School (now B.E.H.S No.5) of the De La Salle Brothers in Moulmein. In 1869 in Lower Burma, there were 340 "Lay Schools" with 5069 students, providing basic Western education. In comparison, 3438 monastic schools were operating in the region, providing Buddhist education to over 44,000 students. Traditional methods of teaching, however, became obsolete in the British colonial environment. The influence of Buddhist monasteries in towns and villages diminished considerably as well. The retreat of Buddhist monasteries left a vacuum in education, filled increasingly by Christian missionary schools. Threatened by the growth of Christian education, Buddhist Burmese founded several Anglo-Vernacular high schools in the 1890s. Founded in 1899, No. 9 B.E.H.S, then known as Shin Maha Buddhaghosa National School was among the first nationalist schools founded in the region.

In 1898, several Western educated Burmese saw a need to foster traditional teachings in the context of Western institutions and values. Yan Win, an ethnic Mon alumnus of a British missionary school, was encouraged by his British friend, Commissioner Bernard Houghton to start social work in Moulmein. Meanwhile, lawyer Shwe Thwin and other Burmese scholars were finding ways to establish nationalist institutions. Collaborating, they founded the Sāsanādhāra Society to foster traditional Buddhist teachings. The Society in turn decided to establish the Buddhaghosa National School in 1899 with Yan Win as its headmaster, a position he held until his death in 1906. Upon its founding, the school heavily emphasized on Burmese and Pali teachings. The standard textbook for Burmese History was Maha Yazawin by U Kala.