The junta has put pressure on schools in the areas of Karen State’s Kyondoe Township under its control to re-open for the new academic year at the beginning of June.
The junta ordered the schools to re-open despite almost daily artillery fire, airstrikes, and drone attacks in Kyondoe Township, which is a contested area under the mixed control of a resistance coalition and the junta, which still controls most of Kyondoe Town, the township administrative centre. This means that some schools in the township are administered by the resistance coalition, whereas others come under the junta administration.
Previously, schools in the parts of Kyondoe Township under resistance control said that they do not know if they will be able to open next school year because of the amount of ongoing fighting in Kawkareik Township.
Conversely, junta-appointed education officials are putting pressure on schools in Kyondoe Town and in surrounding villages to start student enrolment as early as 20 May and reopen by 1 June, according to a parent from Nyaungyeikthar Village near Kyondoe Town.
She said: “The junta-appointed education officials in the villages around Kyondoe told the teachers to start enrolling students and reopen schools. The teachers then passed that message on to us parents. In my village, enrollment is set to begin on 22 May and we’ve been told that schools will reopen on 1 June.”
Last academic year, in Kyondoe Township, 16,722 students were taught by 904 teaching staff in 114 schools. Of those 58 were junta-operated schools, 54 were independent schools established by villagers and supported by their funding and two schools were run by the KNU's Karen Education and Culture Department (KECD), according to data from the KNU's Karen Education and Culture Department (KECD).
With daily artillery strikes and the junta also carrying out airstrikes targeting schools and monasteries in Kyondoe Town and Township many parents are hesitant to send their children to junta-operated schools. Independent schools are still deciding whether to open, though ones in junta controlled areas may be forced to re-open by the junta.
