Ne Win led a coup abolishing the constitution and establishing a military government with socialist economic priorities (Burma Socialist Programme Party). These policies had devastating effects on the country’s economy and business climate. The military-dominated state under General Ne Win had a coercive relationship with urban and rural populations, reflected both in the growth of a huge black market that challenged Ne Win’s socialist control of the economy and in occasional uprisings by students and other city dwellers, especially in Yangon, which were sparked by shortages of basic necessities such as rice and by abuses of power by Ne Win and his cronies. In response to the worsening economic situation, student disturbances broke out in March …show more content…
Although they may arrive from the same country of origin, they do not always share the same linguistic, ethnic and cultural background, and their life experiences are often just as diverse. The biggest challenges for refugees, particularly those with little formal education before arriving in Australia, is to learn English. People from Burma are grateful for the assistance they receive through the Adult Migrant Education Program (AMEP), but often they feel pressured by job agencies to find employment before their survival-level English skills are sufficient. People from refugee camps on the Thai-Burma border often have few qualifications and face difficulty looking for work in Australia. Some feel intense pressure to find a job, which can lead to depression and despair. Though some find work in factories or on farms, their low English levels can lead to communication difficulties in the workplace. Many adults and children who arrived from refugee camps have had little formal education. For some adults, it is very difficult to learned English. Children are usually eager to learn, enjoying the wide range of opportunities provided at school, and some cannot wait to go back to school because they find the holidays too boring. People who arrived as students from Burma in the 1990s, as a result of the democracy uprising, often have high educational qualifications, having undertaken a TAFE or university degree. The other issues or challenges for Burmese refugees, in terms of of accessing social and human services is housing. Large families often struggle to obtain housing, particularly because landlords or real estate agents only allow a certain number of people to live in the premises (South Eastern Region Migrant Resource Centre, 2011). Each refugees journey has its own unique characteristics and mental health consequences, which require much attention from social work service providers. One of