No school for Kaman students in Arakan State capital Sittwe

By Admin 10 Jun 2023

DMG Newsroom
10 June 2023, Sittwe

Some 50 ethnic Kaman high students from Kaman Village in Arakan State’s Sittwe Township still can’t enrol at schools in Sittwe town, according to their parents.

Kaman students in Grades 10 through 12 from Tharyargon, Thaganet and Thakkelpyin villages went to basic education high schools Nos. 1 and 4 in Sittwe on June 1 and June 5 respectively for enrollment. But they were told by school authorities that they needed permission from the Arakan State Administration Council to enrol.

A parent from Thaganet Village said: “At first we heard that we can enrol at schools in the town. School authorities gave various excuses that we need permission from the state government, that schools are full, and school buildings are damaged so that no more students can be accepted.”

Those students learnt at an affiliated basic education high school in Tharyargone Village, and basic education middle school No. 9 in a cantonment in previous years. But this year, they are trying to enrol at high schools in the town.

U Kyaw Yin Oo, a parent from Thakkelpyin Village, said: “Our children went to basic education middle school No. 9 last year. But they are high school students, and it is not OK for them to learn high school lessons at a middle school. The new curriculum has experiments, and the basic education middle school No. 9 does not have a lab for that, and there are also not enough teachers. We don’t want our children to continue to lose access to schooling.”

It is not new for ethnic Kaman students in Arakan State to face restrictions regarding their access to schooling. Kaman politicians call it an act of racial discrimination.  

U Tin Win Hlaing, secretary of the Kaman National Development Party, said: “Our people are losing our rights either as citizens or ethnic people. I would call it discrimination. They should be allowed to study.”

The Arakan Students Union has also criticised the ban on Kaman students, and has pledged to help them.

“Every child has a right to schooling. Kaman people are also the residents of Arakan State. They are ignoring Kaman students. We will do whatever we can to make sure Kaman children have access to schooling,” said information officer Ko Oo Than Naing of the Arakan Students Union.

The head of the Arakan State education department, U Ba Htwee Sein, denied that there are any restrictions on Kaman students, saying there are some delays because school buildings damaged by Cycline Mocha are still being repaired.

“We don’t deny their access to education. We don’t impose restrictions on them about which schools they can’t attend. We can’t accept them immediately because we are busy as schools were damaged. We are arranging seats for them at other schools. Basic education high school No. 4 is already crowded,” said U Ba Htwee Sein.

Following inter-communal conflicts in 2012, some Kaman students in Sittwe were forced to drop out due to various reasons including because not every school accepts them.