Nearly 55,000 students enrolled in Arakan State schools for 2021-22 academic year

By DMG 26 May 2021

DMG Newsroom
26 May 2021, Sittwe

On the first day of school enrolment for the 2021-22 academic year, there were 54,687 students enrolled in Arakan State, according to the State Education Officer’s office, which is housed under the auspices of the Ministry of Education’s Department of Basic Education.

The enrolment figures include 38,025 primary school students, 12,864 middle school students and 3,798 high school students.

“We have been putting up posters since May 7 to announce that we will be accepting students,” said U Tin Thein, Arakan State education officer.

Admissions tallying will take place from May 24-31, with the Department of Basic Education sending a directive to schools on May 3.

U Tin Thein said that a directive had been issued to reopen schools on June 1 and that schools would be opened in accordance with COVID-19 rules and regulations.

“In the past, students were required to sit 6 feet apart in order to prevent COVID-19 in school classrooms. ... As before, the A-level and B-level tests have already been done by the health department, but now there are 34 health-compliant tests,” he said.

U Aung Kyi Moe, the parent of a student in Sittwe, said that despite efforts to prevent students from attending school and not enrolling in schools across Myanmar, his family had enrolled their children for the future of their children’s education.

“I do not support the bombing of the school and the fact that I was told not to go to school. Because when you build a country or a region, you have to build it with knowledge. This knowledge is also needed to critique the pros and cons. That’s why I want students to go to school,” he said.

The military regime’s push to reopen schools by June has faced resistance, with anti-junta forces calling for an education boycott as part of the nationwide civil disobedience movement (CDM).

A parent of a local student in Thandwe Township said she was still considering whether or not to send her children to school.

“We are monitoring the situation. I am also worried that if the children are sent to school, the school will close again. The situation is not stable and we are considering whether to send our children to school,” she said.

Basic education schools across Myanmar have been closed since June 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the February 1 military coup and formation of the Tatmadaw-led State Administration Council, the anti-coup CDM has included classroom affairs, with students and/or their parents opting out of the education system under the junta, and teachers not reporting for work.