Local youth development schools struggling as Covid-19, political upheaval take their toll

By DMG 14 Aug 2021

DMG Newsroom
14 August 2021, Sittwe 

Local youth development schools in Arakan State are facing difficulties due to the current political situation and the Covid-19 pandemic’s ongoing third wave. 

Some students from youth development schools in Manaung and Sittwe towns have few opportunities to apply for scholarships, managers of the schools said. 

U Tun Lin, principal of the Pechaung Institute, said students have few opportunities to apply for scholarships because some schools in mainland Myanmar have closed and foreign programmes have been cancelled due to the country’s political upheaval. 

Youth development schools in Arakan State began opening in 2017 and there are now five local youth development schools in the state. 

They have been facing difficulties with teaching and school operations since last year, when the first Covid-19 cases were reported in Arakan State, managers of the schools said. 

U Aung Myint Thu, principal of the Change Maker youth development school in Manaung town, noted that they have had to depend on online instruction during the pandemic. 

“When we adopt an online teaching system, students cannot do group work, and there are some weaknesses for leadership. We cannot teach social interactions. And, we have more expenditures for teaching,” he said. 

Expenditures for students who are granted scholarships to study abroad have also increased, in some cases to more than double their pre-pandemic levels, making it an increasingly unfeasible option for students.