Over 500 students from Kyauktaw IDP camp struggle to access schooling

By Win Nyunt 26 Jul 2020

Win Nyunt| DMG
26 July, Sittwe 

More than 500 students from kindergarten to high school who are sheltering at Nyaung Chaung IDP camp in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw Township are facing difficulties to pursue their education, according to the manager of the camp. 

U Khaing Myo Aung, the camp manager, said the students’ situation was reported to the township education officer and administrator, but a response has not yet been received. 

“We do not have a place for a classroom for them when schools are allowed to resume,” he explained. 

There are 290 kindergarten students, 171 middle school students and 42 high school students in the camp, he said. 

Activists formed an Assistance Association for IDP Students this year to help all IDP students in Arakan State to pursue their education, but so far the organisation has been able to accept and teach only 160 students from Grades 7 to 10 in Sittwe due to financial difficulty. 

More than 2,600 people from 17 villages such as Tinmagyi, Pyaintaing and Aung Tharyar villages in Kyauktaw Township and Meeletwa village in Paletwa Township, Chin State, are taking shelter at Nyaung Chaung IDP camp, said U Khaing Myo Aung. 

The number of IDPs in Arakan State has climbed to nearly 200,000 due to clashes between the Tatmadaw and the Arakan Army, and more than 30% of them are students, according to figures released by civil society groups.