Reopening of schools uncertain this academic year

By Myo Thiri Kyaw 16 Nov 2020

Myo Thiri Kyaw | DMG
16 November 2020, Sittwe

State schools look increasingly unlikely to reopen in the 2020-2021 academic year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The deputy director general of the Basic Education Department, Dr. Tin Maung Win, said it had not yet been decided whether schools would re-opened this academic year, with that determination in the hands of the national-level Central Committee for Prevention, Control and Treatment of COVID-19.

The Sittwe University Students’ Union chairman, Ko Toe Toe Aung, said students could experience psychological impacts caused by being away from the education environment, particularly from a sense of being deprived of the opportunity to learn.

Disruptions to education were felt more acutely in Arakan State, he contended, due to the state’s historically under-resourced school system.

Matriculation student Ma Waing Waing said students tend to feel discouraged if made to put their education on hold.

“Parents of students have spent money and time for education this year. So, they are worried about not having to sit for school exams. We’d also like to sit for the exam. Some students have left school after feeling depressed,” she said.

Of prospects for end-of-year exams in March 2021, given the stunted academic year, Dr. Tin Maung Win said: “As there is no schooling, no teaching and nothing, there won’t be exams. It is very unlikely to have examinations.”

Myanmar had recorded 68,994 COVID-19 patients as of November 15, out of which 52,351 were discharged from hospitals after recovery. Altogether 1,577 patients had died as of Sunday evening, according to figures from the Ministry of Health and Sports.