The military junta is forcing students and teachers to go to school despite the ongoing fighting in Rakhine State, according to student rights activists.
“The Rakhine State’s Education Officer officially issued an order to go to school. The order stated students must go to school and teachers must come to school and if not, those teachers will be taken action. We can say there is in an attending school because they (junta) threatened students and teachers to go to school. Those students and teachers are being forced to go to school,” said a student rights activist in Rakhine State.
“About 1,200 schools have been closed in the townships of Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Rathedaug, Ponnagyun, Pauktaw, Minpyar, Myebon, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U and Sittwe in northern Rakhine State, due to the fighting in Rakhine State,” said activists for student rights.
“Fighting is intense both in the south and north of Rakhine State. It is impossible to go to school and take exams in the areas where there is war. We see they open basic education schools in Sittwe. The purpose of opening school is not for the sake of the students’ education, but it is only to show that their administration is still functioning,” said an official of the Rakhine State Students’ Union.
The basic education schools are opened in Sittwe town where the junta’s state headquarter is located, but students are not able to go to school due to the security situation, and the parents of the students are also worried, according to local residents.
” Now, any school under the junta has no security and no future for students. What we want is not an education that forced and threatened students,” said a matriculation student living in Sittwe.
“When students cannot go to school in Sittwe town due to security reasons, the junta troops forcibly arrest them and demands money,” student rights activists added.
Similarly, a total of 57 local people _ including students and 4 teachers _ who are travelling by sea, were arrested by the military junta’s naval ship and those arrested reportedly had to pay hundreds of thousands of moneys for their release.