Basic Education High School No. 2 Dagon (; formerly, Myoma National High School, မြို့မကျောင်း) is a

public high school A state school, public school, or government school is a primary school, primary or secondary school that educates all students without charge. They are funded in whole or in part by taxation and operated by the government of the state. State-f ...

located a few miles north of downtown

Yangon Yangon, formerly romanized as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar. Yangon was the List of capitals of Myanmar, capital of Myanmar until 2005 and served as such until 2006, when the State Peace and Dev ...

Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has ...

. The former nationalist high school founded for the children of the common folk, now educates mostly the children of well-to-do Burmese families from Dagon and vicinity. It was one of the first "nationalist schools" opened after the First National Strike against the

British rule in Burma British colonial rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948, from the successive three Anglo-Burmese wars through the creation of ''Burma'' as a province of British India to the establishment of an independently administered colony, and finally i ...

History

The Myoma school was founded in

Dagon township Dagon Township ( ) is located immediately north of downtown Yangon. The township comprises five wards, and shares borders with Bahan Township in the north, Ahlon Township in the west, Mingala Taungnyunt Township in the east, and Lanmadaw Townsh ...

in December 1920. The school is regarded as the first nationalist school opened in Burma as it was established in 1920. The school was founded as the Myoma National High School by

Ba Lwin Saya Gyi U Ba Lwin () was born in Rangoon, Burma on 20 September 1892. He was the headmaster of Myoma National School from 1924 to 1953 after Ngwe Zin and Pho Latt. Pho Latt and Rangoon University boycotters founded Myoma National High School ...

after Pho Latt and Ngwe Zin. The current building was built in 1929 as part of a nationwide movement by the nationalist Burmese to counter what they perceived as drawbacks of the British colonial education system: lack of access, and a heavily biased curriculum. The colonial education system relied heavily on a small number of private (mostly parochial) schools like St. Paul's English High School that were out of reach for most Burmese. Even the wealthy Burmese who could afford the schools were unsatisfied with the heavy Anglo-centric nature of the curriculum. (This led to the First Yangon University Strike in December 1920. The event is still celebrated annually as National Day.) Throughout the 1920s, the nationalist Burmese set up a parallel education system of national schools throughout the country. In 1929, Ba Lwin founded the school in Yangon. He would go on to guide the school until 1953. The school was nationalized in April 1965, and eventually renamed as Basic Education High School No. 2 Dagon. Today, commonly known as Dagon 2, it is still a nationally prominent school due to its heritage. Ironically, the very access touted in the school's founding has dissipated. Dagon 2 today draws its student body overwhelmingly from well-to-do families who can pay a large "donation" every year. The school is listed on the

Yangon City Heritage List The Yangon City Heritage List is a list of man-made landmarks in Yangon, Myanmar, so designated by the city government, Yangon City Development Committee. The list consists of 188 structures (as of 2001), and is largely made up of mostly religious s ...

. The Blue Plaque has been installed on the structure by the Yangon Heritage Trust in November 2018.

Notable alumni

Arts and literature

* Hsu Shin: Famous writer * Ma Sandar: Famous writer * Myoma Myint Kywe: Famous writer, historian and chief instructor of Soshiki Karate Academy * Zawgyi: Distinguished writer, poet and one of the leaders of the Khit-San literary movement in the 1930s

Business

Maung Shwe B. L. Goenka, better known as Maung Shwe ( ) is the son of Vipassana expert S. N. Goenka and head of the Hindu Central Board in Myanmar Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official ...

: Chairman of Myanmar–India Merchants' Association

Military

* Rear-Adm. Chit Hlaing: former Commander-in-Chief (Navy) * Lieutenant General Maung Hla: Minister * General Kyaw Win (Dr. Kyaw Win): Director of Medical Services, Burma Army Medical Corp sand Retired Myanmar Ambassador to the Court of St. James *

Lieutenant General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

Phone Myint: Home Affairs Minister * Major General

Sein Htwa Major General Sein Htwa served as Minister of Religious Affairs, Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and Minister of Immigration & Population in the military government of Burma. He retired in May 2006. Between 1998 and 2002 he ...

: Social welfare minister * Commodore Thaung Tin: Former Commander-in-Chief (Navy) * Lieutenant General Thein Win: Commander in Chiefs and Chief of Air Staff

Politics and government

* Bo Letya: one of the

Thirty Comrades The Thirty Comrades () constituted the embryo of the modern Burmese army called the Burma Independence Army (BIA) which was formed to fight for independence from Britain. This was accomplished just before the majority of the Thirty Comrades retu ...

; Commander-in-Chief of the Burma Defence Army (1943–45); War Minister (1944–45); Deputy prime minister (1948–52) *

Bo Mingaung Bo or BO may refer to Arts and entertainment *Box office, where tickets to an event are sold, and by extension, the amount of business a production receives *'' BA:BO'', 2008 South Korean film * ''Bo'' (film), a Belgian film starring Ella-June ...

: one of the Thirty Comrades *

U Nu Nu (; ; 25 May 1907 – 14 February 1995), commonly known as Burmese names#Honorifics, U Nu and also by the honorific name Thakin Nu, was a prominent Burmese people, Burmese statesman and the first Prime Minister of Union of Burma. He was ...

: Prime Minister of Burma (1948–1956, 1957–1958, 1960–1962) *

Myoma U Than Kywe Myoma Than Kywe (, ; 26 December 1924 – 22 September 1983) was a Burmese politician. He was one of the negotiators of the historical Panglong Conference. The signing of Panglong Agreement is now celebrated as a national holiday, Union Da ...

: One of the negotiators of the historical

Panglong Conference The Panglong Conference (), held in February 1947, was a historic meeting that took place at Panglong, Southern Shan State, Panglong in the Shan States in Burma between the Shan people, Shan, Kachin people, Kachin and Chin people, Chin ethnic mi ...

in 1947. The signing of

Panglong Agreement The Panglong Agreement ( ) was reached in Panglong, Southern Shan State, between the Burmese government under Aung San and the Shan Committee, Kachin Committee, and Chin Committee peoples on 12 February 1947. The anniversary of this agreeme ...

is now celebrated as a national holiday, Union Day. *

Ye Htoon Ye Htoon, (; ) also known as Roland Chan Htoon , (1937 – 7 May 2010) was a prominent Burmese lawyer, sometime-jailed political dissident, and a successful entrepreneur, and one of the notables of the now-extinct Scouting movement in Burma. ...

: lawyer, political dissident *

Bo Zeya Bo or BO may refer to Arts and entertainment *Box office, where tickets to an event are sold, and by extension, the amount of business a production receives *'' BA:BO'', 2008 South Korean film * ''Bo'' (film), a Belgian film starring Ella-June ...

: one of the Thirty Comrades *

Win Tin Win Tin (, , 12 March 1929 – 21 April 2014) was a Burmese journalist, politician and political prisoner. He co-founded the National League for Democracy (NLD). He was imprisoned by the military government for 19 years (1989–2008) for his writ ...

: Journalist and politician, Burmese Democracy activist

Religion

* Sayadaw Vinaya: Monk, Abbot of Kaba-Aye Sunlun Meditation Monastery in Yangon

Science

Maung Maung Kha Maung Maung Kha ( ; 7 June 1920 – 30 April 1995) was Prime Minister of Burma between 1977 and 1988. Maung Maung Kha was born to Khin Tint and Chit Pe in Yangon. He enrolled in University of Rangoon in 1937 to study engineering but left ...

: Burma's first physicist;

Sports

* Sein Hlaing: Most successful coach of Myanmar national football team; Winner of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

Centennial Order Merit Award.

List of principals

*Pho Latt : 1920 (served as headmaster for a few months, vice-president of

Rangoon University The University of Yangon (also Yangon University; , ; formerly Rangoon College, University of Rangoon and Rangoon Arts and Sciences University), located in Kamayut, Yangon, is the oldest university in Myanmar's modern education system and the b ...

Students' Boycott Council in 1920) *Ngwe Zin : 1920–23} *

: 1923–53 *Aye Thwe : 1953–57 *Ba Tin : 1957–68 *Ba Saw : 1968–70 *Hla Thein : 1970–72 *Nyein Maung : 1972–82 *Win Soe : 1982–84 *Tin Win : 1985–88 *Khin Maung Nyunt : 1988–90 *Han Thein : 1990–97 *Tha Win : 1998–99 *Tin Hlaing : 1999–2002 *Tin Maung Tun : 2002–2011 *Aye Thinn : 2011–2016 *Sai Ko Lay : 2016–2018 *Ko Ko Naing : 2018–present

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dagon High schools in Yangon