Ferry-going students in Arakan State still need life jackets for school commute

By DMG 22 Jul 2022

DMG Newsroom
22 July 2022, Kyauktaw

Many students in Arakan State who must travel by boat in order to attend school are still in need of life jackets, nearly two months after the issue was raised and promises for government provision of the safety gear were made.

Because rivers and creeks are abundant in Arakan State, water is a major means of transportation, and some children must travel to another village or town by boat if their place of residence does not have a local school of its own.

Students from the IDP camps of Taungmin Kalar and Wah Taung in Kyauktaw Township, for example, have to go to a high school in Kansauk village by crossing the Yoe Creek in boats.

“As the ferryboat is small, if it rains, it is very dangerous for the students. We also cannot afford to buy life jackets for the children,” said Ma Aye Aye Khin, manager of the Taungmin Kalar IDP camp.

Children from Yahat Taung village in Ponnagyun Township have to attend the basic education high school in Poeshweepyin village because there is no middle or high school in their village, explained one father, U Kyaw Thein Myint.

“I worry about the safety of the children as a ferryboat with students in it sank in 2016. I don’t send my children to school when it rains heavily,” U Kyaw Thein Myint told DMG.

On June 1, 2016, seven schoolchildren from Yahat Taung and Gangar villages died when their ferry boat capsized on the way to school.

An officer from Arakan State’s Education Department told DMG in May that the department would provide life jackets for free.

“We are making a list of students who go to school by ferry boats. We have plans to supply life jackets to them. We already have life jackets in our hands,” Dr. Tun Tun Thein, deputy director of the state’s Education Department, said in late May.

U Hla Thein, spokesman for the Arakan State military council, made a similar pledge on July 19, saying the administration is planning to provide life jackets to students in need.

“We provided life jackets to some students in Poeshweepyin village last year. We are now planning to provide life jackets to students who are going to school by ferry boat in Arakan State,” he said.