Schools in cyclone-hit Arakan State plan to open on June 1

By Admin 22 May 2023

DMG Newsroom
22 May 2023, Sittwe

Despite the damage wrought by Cyclone Mocha on many basic education schools in Arakan State, arrangements are being made to open schools on June 1, according to the Arakan State education officer’s office.

Students will be accepted starting May 23 and storm-hit schools are being repaired in order to open their doors by June 1, said Dr. Tun Tun Thein, deputy director of the Arakan State education officer’s office.

“Schools in Arakan State will accept students as usual. We are making preparations to open schools on June 1. We are trying our best to open schools in Arakan State,” he told DMG, adding that a list of schools damaged by the storm is being compiled while the extent of the damage remains unknown. Cyclone Mocha made landfall with destructive force on May 14, killing and injuring hundreds of people and flattening or damaging a significant number of homes and other buildings across several Arakan State townships.

Thousands of schools in Sittwe, Rathedaung, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U, Pauktaw, Buthidaung and Maungdaw townships have been damaged or destroyed by the cyclonic storm, according to a DMG field survey. 

U Tin Aung, headmaster of a post-primary school in Rathedaung Township’s Thameehla Village, said that although school buildings in the village were damaged by the storm, they will be opened if they are instructed to do so.

“Out of two school buildings, one school building completely collapsed. We will open school if we are instructed by the township education officer’s office. We may set up temporary school buildings for the students. If we do not open school, we will be prosecuted, ” he added.

The Myanmar regime’s second in command, Vice Senior General Soe Win, has said that storm-hit schools must be rebuilt on a priority basis in order to open them on June 1.

According to local residents, many damaged schools in the storm-affected areas have not yet been repaired or rebuilt.

“The school in our village completely collapsed, but it has not yet been repaired. The headmaster visited the school. Temporary schools must be built to accept students,” said Ko Nay Lin Aung, a resident of Nga Pyauk Se Village in Ponnagyun Township.