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NESTLED in a quiet residential area in Mandalay, the Sulamuni Brick Monastery is home to seven young novice monks from the Palaung hill tribe, one of Myanmar’s 135 ethnic minority groups.

Under the care of abbot Ashin U Wiseinda, also of Palaung descent, the boys, who come from a village in the tea-producing province of Thibaw in the northern Shan state, will spend the remaining years of their childhood in a monastic school sheltered from the harsh realities of life in Myanmar.

“I want to help my tribe improve by teaching the children Buddhism and Myanmar language so they can work in the city,” says Ashin U Wiseinda. “Hopefully it will lead to better lives for them.”

For many hill tribe families, annual school fees, study materials and uniforms at a typical government primary school, which add up to at least 60,000 kyat (US $60), are heavy financial commitments to bear.

Monastic schools, on the other hand, provide a moral compass with its religious and cultural emphasis and more importantly, free education that will pave the way towards a brighter future for their children.