Educators are expressing concern about the prospect of fitting a full year’s curriculum into about four months of schooling as Myanmar gets ready to send its students back to the classroom after a months-long hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

The vaccination of students over 12 years old in Arakan State is about 71% complete and public schools will reopen after all eligible students are vaccinated, according to the Arakan State Administration Council. 

Paddy yields in Arakan State will likely be lower this year because farmers have had to scale back their use of fertiliser as its price has soared alongside significant depreciation of the Myanmar kyat, according to the Arakan Farmers’ Union. 

Myanmar’s military regime has said it will provide Covid-19 vaccines to the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA), but there have been delays in delivering the vaccine.  

Three 15-year-old girls were reportedly arrested by the No. 1 Anti-Trafficking Police Force on October 24 along with two motorcycle taxi drivers for allegedly illegally entering Maungdaw Township, Arakan State, from a refugee camp in Bangladesh. 

The Sittwe border trade centre in Arakan State has exported about 300 tonnes of goods a day to Bangladesh in recent days, reviving its once bustling trans-borner commerce arrangement even as pandemic fears persist. 

A lawsuit has been filed against Ko Ye Naing Oo, a social affairs activist in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township, under Sections 50(a) and 52(a) of the Counter-Terrorism Law. 

Travel from Sittwe to Yangon and from Sittwe to Mandalay has seen an increase in air passengers due to rising bus fares. 

The State Administration Council (SAC) has closed the cases of 61 people who were arrested for alleged affiliation with the Arakan Army (AA), but as of October 21 only 58 of them had been released from prisons. 

Domestic air travellers from Arakan State will be required to show documents indicating that they are free of Covid-19 beginning next week, in accordance with instructions from the Ministry of Health, said the state’s Public Health Department. 

We Love Rakhine, a nonprofit helping with health, social affairs and education in Arakan State, has donated 300 bicycles to students from Arakan State’s 17 townships who go to school on foot at distances of up to three miles. 

At least 110 political prisoners in Myanmar who were detained for opposing the military coup and freed earlier this month following a supposed amnesty were rearrested shortly after their release, according to figures compiled by the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). 

Sales for the Aung Bar Lay state lottery in Arakan State have dropped by more than 50% since the Myanmar military seized power in a February 1 coup, lottery ticket vendors said. 

A young man from Pan Maw village in Arakan State’s Mrauk-U Township, who was arrested on suspicion of having ties to the anti-regime People’s Defence Force, has been charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law, according to family members. 

The State Administration Council (SAC) released nine people this week who were arrested for protesting against Myanmar’s military dictatorship in the Arakan State townships of Taungup, Gwa and Manaung. 

Out of 52 journalists arrested across Myanmar by the State Administration Council (SAC), 17 have been released and 35 remain in detention, according to Myanmar Press Freedom In-Depth, a group that has compiled a list of detained reporters. 

Trading through the Sittwe border trade centre to Bangladesh has resumed since October 16, but the Maungdaw border trade centre could not be reopened as of October 18, according to traders in Maungdaw Township. 

A case involving five men from Kyaukseik village and its vicinity in Arakan State’s Ponnagyun Township, who were arrested on suspicion of having links to the Arakan Army (AA) and charged under the Counter-Terrorism Law, has been delayed due to the absence of a prosecution witness. 

A Covid-19 vaccination campaign targeting more than 120,000 students aged 12 and above from 10 townships in the northern part of Arakan State will begin on October 17, according to the state’s Department of Public Health.