Learning was very rare in old Burma - from Pagan (Bagan) Empire wikipedia -
According to Than Tun, even in the 13th century, "the art of writing
was then still in its infancy with the Burmans". Manuscripts were rare
and extremely costly. As late as 1273, a complete set of the Tripiṭaka
cost 3000 kyats of silver, which could buy over 2000 hectares of paddy
fields. Literacy in Burmese, not to mention Pali, was the effective
monopoly of the aristocracy and their monastic peers
