More than 125,000 schoolteachers in Myanmar have been suspended by the military authorities for joining a civil disobedience movement to oppose the military coup in February, an official of the Myanmar Teachers’ Federation said.
The suspensions have come days before the start of a new school year, which some teachers and parents are boycotting as part of the campaign that has paralysed the country since the coup cut short a decade of democratic reforms.
A total of 125,900 schoolteachers had been suspended as of Saturday (May 22), said the official of the teachers’ federation, who declined to give his name for fear of reprisals. He is already on the junta’s wanted list on charges of inciting disaffection.
Myanmar had 430,000 schoolteachers according to the most recent data, from two years ago.
“These are just statements to threaten people to come back to work. If they actually fire this many people, the whole system will stop,” said the official, who is also a teacher. He said he had been told that the charges he faces would be dropped if he returns.
The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper has called on teachers and students to return to schools to get the education system started again.
The disruption at schools echoes that in the health sector and across government and private business since the Southeast Asian country was plunged into chaos by the coup and the arrest of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi .
Around 19,500 university staff have also been suspended, according to the teachers’ group.
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Registrations begin next week for the school term that starts in June, but some parents said they also plan to keep their children out of school.
“I am not going to enrol my daughter because I don’t want to give her education from military dictatorship,” said 42-year-old Myint, whose daughter is 14. “I also worry about her safety.”
Students, who have been at the forefront of daily protests at which hundreds of people have been killed by security forces, also said they planned to boycott classes.
“I will only go back to school if we get back democracy,” said Lwin, 18.
Myanmar’s education system was already one of the poorest in the region – and ranked 92 of 93 countries in a global survey last year.
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Even under the leadership of Suu Kyi, who had championed education, spending was below 2 per cent of gross domestic product. That was one of the lowest rates in the world, according to World Bank figures.
A National Unity Government, set up underground by opponents of the junta, said it would do all it could to support the teachers and students itself – calling on foreign donors to stop funding the junta-controlled education ministry.
“We will work with Myanmar’s educators who are refusing to support the cruel military,” said Sasa, who goes by one name and is a spokesman for the national unity government. “These great teachers and brave teachers will never be left behind.”
Meanwhile, fighters opposed to the military junta seized a police station in the eastern town of Mobye on Sunday and claimed to have killed at least 13 members of the security forces and captured four, local media said.
Videos shared on social media showed what appeared to be the dead bodies of security forces in the latest attack of a general upsurge of conflict in parts of Myanmar since the Feb 1 coup.
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A gun battle also erupted at a town near the border with China early on Sunday, while on Saturday an armed ethnic group opposed to the coup launched an attack on a jade mining town on the other side of Myanmar, near India.
The Irrawaddy news outlet quoted a fighter from the local People’s Defence Force as saying the police station had been set on fire and that two civilians had been wounded in the fighting. Reports from other media said up to 15 members of the security forces had been killed.
Mobye is about 100km east of the capital Naypyidaw, but lies near territory held by some of the ethnic armed groups that have fought for greater autonomy for decades.
An alliance of four ethnic groups opposing the coup battled early on Sunday with security forces in Muse, one of the main border crossings to China, Myanmar media said.
Since the army took power, local People’s Defence Forces have also sprung up to oppose the junta - often armed with shotguns and homemade weapons. The video from Mobye showed at least one fighter firing an assault rifle.
While the junta is struggling with renewed conflict on several fronts, it also faces daily protests and strikes that have paralysed hospitals, schools and much private business.