Military junta pressures teachers to convince parents to register children for school

June 2, 2021

HURFOM: For the 2021-22 academic year, the military junta indicated that student registration in most basic education schools should take place between May 24th and May 30th, 2021.

However, very few students registered for the current academic year. For some schools in Ye Township, only 10 students registered their names – a number much lower than previous academic years.

The military junta has responded by pressuring schoolteachers to convince parents to register their children for the upcoming academic year.

“In the previous academic years, our school had 180 students but now, only 18 students have registered their names. The number was too low. The education officials (of the military junta) instructed us to convince the parents to register their children for school, including telling parents that security forces would be provided at schools,” said a schoolteacher from a basic education primary school in Ye Township.

While slightly more students have registered for schools in villages, the numbers are low in the cities.

“In rural areas, many students registered for school. There was no obvious violence and arrest in the villages and the children wanted to go to school. As the school is in my village, we can manage easily even if something happens. But we just did the registration and we’ll wait and see when the school opens,” said one parent.

There were bomb blasts at high schools in Lamine Town and Mawkanin Village, Ye Township in the third week of May, and some parents told HURFOM that they did not register their children at school due to the unstable political situation.

“Only 10% of students registered their names at Lamine and these are the children of government staff and migrant workers. The local residents did not register their children,” said a Lamine resident.

The Student Unions and teachers that have been involved in the country wide civil disobedience movement (CDM) are urging parents not to register their children to show strong opposition to military rule.

“There are two reasons why parents didn’t register their children – to oppose the military rule and because they are afraid of an explosion at schools. The parents didn’t want to take risks with the lives of their children,” said the Lamine resident.

The Mon State military council announced that 84,000 students in Mon State have registered for school between May 24th and the 27th, 2021.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News