When U Nayaka was young, he was struggling to obtain modern education with Myanmar education system. At the age of twenty-two while collecting food in the early morning as a young monk, he saw the huge Christian high school which was accessible to all Christians wishing to receive a modern education. That Christian high school inspired U Nayaka to found a monastic education school to provide free modern education for the poor, including novices, monks, and nuns, regardless of their race, ethnicity, or religion. This desire evolved into persistent encouragement for U Nayaka, and he subsequently opened Phaung Daw Oo Monastic Education High School in Mandalay, Myanmar. U Nayaka’s persistent belief is that Myanmar cannot reach its full potential for development unless it becomes a democratic country which will not sustain the practices of democracy without a quality educational system. His previous experiences with Myanmar’s democracy process before 1962 brought him to this belief. Myanmar was not able to sustain democratic practices because seventy percent of the population was uneducated. He also realizes that poor people cannot afford basic education, and in many cases they do not have access to schools. In Myanmar, eighty percent of the population does not have basic education, and he firmly believes that providing free education for the poor will lead to improvement of their livelihoods. U Nayaka is an energetic and motivated monk and his seventeen years of teaching experiences have brought him to be a leader of the monastic education system. He attained completion of a high level of Buddhist literature in 1971. He is also a Bachelor of Science graduate from the University of Mandalay, majoring in Chemistry, but he has instead chosen a career path as an educational leader in monastic education. Putting his beliefs into practice, in 1993, Phaung Daw Oo Monastic Education Primary School was founded by U Nayaka with seventeen volunteer teachers for 450 students. In1994 Phaung Daw Oo was accredited by the Ministry of Religious Affair and allowed to open a middle school. Then, in 2000, permission was granted to open the high school. In the 2002 and 2003 academic years, the student population increased tremendously, and there was not enough space for all students to learn in the classrooms.
