Education is free and compulsory for children from the age of 5 to 10. Secondary education consists of four years of middle or vocational school and an additional two years for high school. Middle and vocational schools are also free, but fees are charged for high school. Secondary schools enroll 35 % of the secondary school-age population. Instruction in primary and secondary schools is in Burmese; English is the second language taught in many secondary schools. The literacy rate of the adult population is reported to be 91 %. the Myanmar government claimed that less than one-fifth of the population was truly literate when it was seeking United Nations (UN) status as a “least developed nation” in the late 1980s.