Plans underway to reopen schools in Gwa Twsp

By DMG 12 Nov 2021

DMG Newsroom
12 November 2021, Gwa 

Arrangements are being made to reopen basic education schools in Gwa Township, Arakan State, which remain closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, as soon as possible, according to the township administrator. 

Local authorities are attempting to enforce the Covid-19 rules and regulations to be followed by the public, and schools will be reopened in accordance with the criteria set by the Ministry of Health if there is a sufficient decline in infections, added the administrator,  U Zarni Kyaw. 

“Schools will reopen if the Covid-19 infections drop to the rate set by the Ministry of Health. Currently, Covid-19 cases have been steadily declining, with only 10 patients undergoing treatment,” he said. 

Basic education schools across most of Myanmar reopened on November 1, but schools in 46 townships including Gwa remained shuttered as infection rates were deemed too high to safely resume classes. 

There were a total of 140 schools in Gwa Township with a total of 1,074 students during the 2019-20 academic year, according to the township education office. 

U Than Naing, the deputy township education officer in Gwa Township, said preparations are underway to reopen schools in Gwa Township when the relevant health authorities give the OK. 

“The closure of the schools is very detrimental to the students. I am also a student parent. If the matriculation students do not go to school this year, they will suffer more than the rest,” he said. 

Applications for the 2022 matriculation examination must be submitted between November 15 and December 30 this year, according to the Department of Myanmar Examinations, which is part of the Ministry of Education. 

Some parents of students in Gwa Township are worried that their eligible children will not be allowed to take the matriculation exam next year. 

Because schools are still closed in Gwa Township, it is not yet possible to consider applications for the matriculation exam, and no official directive on the matter has been issued yet, U Than Naing said. 

Gwa was the lone Arakan State township included on the list of those that would not reopen on November 1. In addition, 26 townships in Shan State; six in Kachin State; four in Magway Region; three in Kayah State; two each in Kayin and Chin states; and one each in Sagaing and Mandalay regions were exempted from the reopening order. 

“I think the students in the schools will be officially allowed to take the exams by the end of December,” said U Thein Win, a schoolteacher from Kaung Mrat Hein private school in Sittwe.  “There are children in mainland Myanmar who do not go to school due to the political situation. How will the authorities manage them? Parents who do not send their children to school will also lose their children’s right to take the exam.”