Basic Education High School No. 6 Botataung

Botataung 6 High School အ.ထ.က. (၆) ဗိုလ်တထောင်
Main Hall of Botataung 6 High School
Location
Anawrahta Road, Botataung Yangon, Yangon Region, Myanmar
Information
Type	Public
Established	1860
School number	6
Principal	Dr. Kyaw Soe Naing
Grades	K-10
Number of students	~5,000

Basic Education High School (BEHS) No. 6 Botataung (Burmese: အခြေခံ ပညာ အထက်တန်း ကျောင်း အမှတ်​ (၆) ဗိုလ်တထောင်; abbreviated to အ.ထ.က. (၆) ဗိုလ်တထောင်; commonly known as Botataung 6 High School or St. Paul's High School), located a few miles east of downtown Yangon in Botataung township, is a public high school, and one of the oldest high schools in Myanmar. The all-boys school offers classes from kindergarten to Tenth Standard (or Grade 1 through Grade 11 in the new nomenclature).

Known during the British colonial days as St. Paul's English High School, the Roman Catholic parochial school was the top school of choice for the children of the elite. Many of the country's who's who in those days were alumni of St. Paul's. The school was nationalized in 1965. While it is no longer the leading high school it once was, the school continues to be among the better (certainly among the better known) high schools in Yangon, serving mostly the children of middle class families from downtown Yangon and vicinity.

The school's main three-story red brick colonial era building is a landmark protected by the city.^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Campus 3 Programs 4 Cost 5 Alumni 5.1 Politics and government 5.2 Academia and medicine 5.3 Literature and arts 5.4 Music and cinema 6 List of headmasters 7 References

History

The school was founded as St. Paul's English High School by the De La Salle Brothers, a Roman Catholic order in August 1860,^[2] eight years after the British had seized Yangon and all of Lower Myanmar. It was the second LaSallian high school in the country. (St. Patrick's High School was founded in Mawlamyaing in April 1860.) The all boys school was among the few early schools that educated the children of the country's British officers, the Anglo-Burmese, the Anglo-Indians and the wealthy Burmese. Naturally, many of the notable colonial era names were St. Paul's alumni. The language of instruction was mainly English in the early days, and bi-lingual for some classes in the later days. Latin, science and higher mathematics were taught in the senior classes. Special interest classes such as Painting, and Carpentry and Woodcarving were also offered. The highlights of the school year were the annual sports and school concerts.^[3]

In April 1965, when Gen. Ne Win's military government nationalized private schools, the school was renamed to "Basic Education High School (BEHS) No. 6 Botataung". The primary language of instruction became Burmese. The school, which used to have a "Roll of Honor" for its outstanding students, steadily lost significance partly due to the new requirement to attend nearby schools as much as possible. Nevertheless, the school is still considered among the top high schools in Myanmar. Many well-to-do and wealthy families prefer to send their children to TTC and Dagon 1 High School. The elite do not hesitate to send their kids to English language private schools that cost US$8000 or more annually.^[4] Today, Botataung 6 attracts mostly the children of middle class families from downtown Yangon.

The school has produced two top-ranked students, who finished first in the country's highly competitive college matriculation exams, one in 1974 and another in 1984.

Campus

Botataung 6 is one of the few high schools in Myanmar with a sizable campus, covering perhaps 75% of the entire city square block. The compound of St. Mary's Cathedral, north of the school, takes up the other 25% of the block. The school is bounded by Theinbyu Road to the east, Anawrahta Road to the south and Aung Kyaw Road to the west. The former Secretariat Compound, where Gen. Aung San was assassinated, is located across Anawrahta Road. The all-girls Botataung 4 High School (formerly, St. Mary's Convent School) and co-ed Botataung 5 High School are located in the vicinity of the school.

The gated campus consists of some of the best facilities available in Myanmar:

• Landmark U-shaped three-story main building^[1] -- East and West wings house ten classrooms each, labeled A through J; also a Physics laboratory and a Chemistry laboratory
• Aung Kyaw Hall, two-story annex building; houses school's main auditorium and school library
• Aung San Hall, two-story annex building
• Regulation size football pitch
• Smaller practice football pitch; also used as an outdoor volleyball court
• One indoor basketball/volleyball court
• Two tennis courts; also double as basketball courts
• Cafeteria

Programs

The school offers classes from K through 10 in two daily shifts. (The Burmese education system is based on the colonial 11-year secondary school curriculum although most other countries are on a 13-year curriculum.) The early shift handles K through 4 and the second shift does 5 through 10. Due to the use of two shifts and the availability of a large number of classrooms, the class size at Botataung 6 is around 40 to 50, much lower than 70-80 students in a typical Burmese classroom.

The school which produced notable scholars in the past has succumbed to the provant teaching style based mainly on memorization and rote learning. Due to severe lack of funding, the school's library and labs are rarely used. Teachers teach for and students study for the exams. Most students attend specialized private classes (locally called tuition classes) on specific subject matters. In a world where teachers must supplement their abysmally low salaries, many of the private classes are given by the teachers (ignoring the conflict of interest) with the primary focus on exam-specific topics. The incestuous practice is typically an academic death knell for those not able to afford these special classes.

Cost

Although the schools are nominally free in Myanmar, in reality, parents still have to pay for school maintenance, donations and registration fees as well as books and uniforms.^[5] The overall costs quickly become considerable, even for middle class parents when the cost for evening tuition classes are factored in.

Alumni

Politics and government

Name	Notability	Reference
Ba Cho	Minister of Information (1946–1947), one of the senior government officials assassinated on 19 July 1947 Publisher of Deedok newspaper	[6]
Ba Khin	First Accountant General of Union of Burma Leading Theravada Buddhist philosopher and propagator of Vipassanā meditation in the Ledi tradition	[7]
Dr. Ba Maw	Prime Minister of Burma during the British and Japanese colonial rule (1937–1940; 1942–1945)	[8]
Ba Pe	One of the four Burmese signatories to the Aung San–Attlee Agreement Founder of Thuriya (The Sun) newspaper	[9]
Sir Maung Khin	First Burmese Chief Justice of the High Court (1921–1924) during the British rule First Burmese to be knighted
Kyaw Myint	Justice of High Court of Union of Burma	[10]
Myint Thein	Third Chief Justice of High Court of Union of Burma (1957–1962)	[10]
Tin Tut	First Burmese ICS officer One of the four Burmese signatories to the Aung San–Attlee Agreement Finance Minister, (1946–1947) First Foreign Minister of Union of Burma (1948)	[11]

Academia and medicine

Name	Notability	Reference
Dr. Ba Han	Preeminent lexicographer and author Author of the University English–Burmese Dictionary	[8]
Dr. Norman Hla	First surgeon to perform a liver transplant in Myanmar	[12]
Dr. Htin Aung	Scholar of Burmese culture and history Rector, University of Yangon (1946–1958) Burmese Ambassador to Sri Lanka (1959–1962)	[13]
Min Latt	Linguist of Burmese language, and writer	[14]
Nay Ok	Well known private tutor of High School English in Yangon
Dr. Than Nyun	Rector, Yangon Institute of Economics (1993) Deputy Minister of Education (1994–1999) Member, ASEAN Eminent Persons Group	[15]

Literature and arts

Name	Notability	Reference
Dr. Htin Aung	Scholar of Burmese culture and history Rector, University of Yangon (1946–1958) Burmese Ambassador to Sri Lanka (1959–1962)	[13]
Maung Maung Gyi	Famous pre-war watercolorist First Burmese to travel abroad for studies in Western painting	[16]
Colin McPhedran	Author of White Butterflies, a memoir of the author's escape from Burma in the face of the Japanese occupation in 1942.
Min Theinkha	Bestselling author of Sarpalin (Surveillant) Hnin Maung detective series	[17]

Music and cinema

Name	Notability	Reference
Bo Bo Han	Popular singer in the 1970s	[18]
Bo Lay	Singer	[18]
Khaing Htoo	Popular singer in the 1980s	[18]
Ki Ki	Hip-hop singer	[18]
King Kong	Comedian	[18]
G Latt	Singer	[18]
Zinyaw Maung Maung	Two-time Myanmar Academy Award winning director	[19]
Maung Myo Min (Yin-dwin-phyit)	Myanmar Academy Award winning director	[18]
Nine One	Hip-hop singer	[18]
Bunny Phyo	Hip-hop singer	[18]
D Phyo	Hip-hop singer	[18]
San Htut	Actor	[18]
Soe Paing	Popular singer in the 1970s	[18]
Tha Htwe	Hip-hop singer	[18]
Than Naing	Popular singer in the 1970s; of band Playboy	[18]
Tin Aung Moe	Singer	[18]
Thu Maung	Myanmar Academy Award winning actor, singer and writer	[20]
Maung Wunna	Two-time Myanmar Academy Award winning director	[21]
Yan Yan Chan	Hip-hop singer and political activist; of band ACID	[18]
Ye Lay	Popular Burmese hip hop artist	[18]
Zaw Gyi	Hip-hop singer	[18]
Zaw Min Lay	Singer	[18]

List of headmasters

The following is a list of headmasters since nationalization in 1965.^[22]

• Thant Gyi (1965)
• Captain Ba Hein (1965–69)
• Myat Htun (1969–79)
• Tun Aung (1980–81)
• Thein Kyi (1981)
• Tin Tun (1981–83)
• Min Maung (1983–90)
• Kyaw Myint (1990–95)
• Win Naing (1995–96)
• Kyi Than (1996–2003)
• Khin Maung Soe (2003–05)
• Maung Lone (2005–07)
• Dr. Win Min Latt (2007–10)
• Dr. Kyaw Soe Naing (2010–Present)

References