By Jar Seng / MPA
Villages across Rakhine State’s Mrauk-U Township are facing a severe shortage of teachers, leaving children without access to basic education amid ongoing conflict.
Since the Arakan Army’s (AA) offensive in late 2023, many residents, including school-aged children, have fled to safer areas, further disrupting education in the region.
A resident of Ma Kyar Se Village in Mrauk-U Township reported a severe teacher shortage despite some high school graduates providing basic education for a modest fee.
“We have a school, but no teachers,” the source said. “About 40 children from kindergarten to fourth grade are learning basic Burmese literacy, but not all can attend regularly.”
With the junta’s education system nonfunctional in areas controlled by the Arakan Army (AA), teachers have been charging small fees to teach reading and writing since July 2024.
Displaced Mro ethnic residents in Yangon reported that around 20 children in Sar Paung Village, part of the Cheik Chaung Village Tract, also lack access to education.
“To reach Sar Paung from Khu Hlaing Village, we must cross mountains—four hours on foot or two hours by land and water. The village’s assigned teachers fled to Yangon. Some children are 10 or 11 years old and still can’t read Burmese,” a source said.
In villages like Kyauk Se Pyin, Yan Aung Pyin, Kyar Kan, Ma Kyar Se, Kyat Sin, Khu Hlaing, Nay Pu Khan, Gu Ta Lone Kya, and Sar Paung, parents who can afford fees hire teachers, but many families cannot, leaving children without education.
“In Khu Hlaing, Christian pastors offer free or low-cost literacy lessons, but they’re informal. In Ma Kyar, parents pay 20,000 kyat per child for primary education, but some can’t afford it. Many children in Kyat Sin also have no schooling,” a resident said.
Cyclone Mocha, which struck Rakhine State in May 2023, destroyed many schools. Despite submitting damage reports to the junta’s administration, no aid was provided.
“All schools in Ram Chaung were destroyed. We reported it, but there was no response. We had to repair everything ourselves, and some schools remain unrepaired,” an administrative officer said.
Remote villages such as Pyin Nyar Wa, Nga Swei, Kyein Chaung, Min Khon Chaung, and Pan Be Chaung in Kyauktaw Township also lack teachers, leaving children without schooling.
A displaced resident from Yoe Chaung now in Yangon said, “Since the conflict began in 2018, we’ve suffered from fighting and landmines. It takes three hours to reach these villages from Kyauktaw, and without phone service or teachers, children cannot attend school.”
Ongoing clashes between the AA and the military junta have displaced over 600,000 people in Rakhine State, according to the United League of Arakan/Humanitarian and Development Coordination Office (ULA/HDCO).
A UNICEF Myanmar report from Feb. 5, 2025, states that 19.9 million people—including 6.4 million children—urgently need humanitarian aid, comprising 35 percent of Myanmar’s population.
