Charity homes in Maungdaw Twsp face financial difficulties

By Admin 28 Jul 2023

DMG Newsroom
28 July 2023, Maungdaw

Charity homes in Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, that were opened for poor children say the number of students is increasing and they need help.

The Nanthartaung charity home and 3rd-Mile charity home in Taungpyo Letwe, near the Bangladesh border, have increased the number of students from last year and need financial assistance due to skyrocketing commodity prices.

“We have financial difficulties to feed the children because the number of students has increased this year. We also need accommodation for the students,” said U Zaw Zaw Lin, head of the Nanthartaung charity home.

A total of 568 poor children from Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Sittwe, Mrauk-U, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw and Rathedaung townships are studying at Nanthartaung charity home, which faces various difficulties due to an increase of more than 100 students from the previous year.

“We need food and accommodation for the academic year 2023-2024. This charity home is dependent on domestic and foreign donations, and donors are also having difficulties due to the storm. Students will be able to study well if they can eat well,” the Venerable Sarana, abbot of the Nanthartaung charity home, told DMG.

There are 37 teachers at the Nanthartaung charity home.

Meanwhile, more than 500 poor and underprivileged students are studying at the 3rd-Mile monastic school; most of them are children of the Mro ethnic group from remote areas.

A school official said children in charity homes are already having trouble getting food and need teachers.

“The prices of goods have gone up, and it is difficult for children to get food due to the storm. We also need volunteer teachers. The township education officer said new teachers will be assigned to the charity home, but no new teachers have arrived yet,” said the Venerable Sandarthiri, patron of the 3rd-Mile monastic school.

Charity homes are one of the main means of achieving literacy for poor children in Arakan State’s border areas, and school officials are appealing to organisations and individuals, including the governing authorities, to provide whatever support they can.