The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) will allow junta-run schools to re-open soon in rural areas under its control in the Indawgyi Lake area in Kachin State's Monghnyin Township.

Since the KIA gave permission for junta-appointed staff to return to teaching in junta-run government schools in the area village elders have been rushing to reopen the schools as soon as possible.

After the KIA took control of the rural areas around Indawgyi lake many teachers employed by the junta in those areas fled to the junta-controlled town of Monghnyin. Now village elders are trying to persuade them to return as soon as possible as the new academic year is about to begin.

An education official from Monghnyin Township familiar with the matter said: “Teachers from villages like Mongpoke and Tonpay had earlier relocated to Monghnyin Town. Now, local elders from those villages have reassured them about their safety and told the relevant education department to send the teachers back to their respective villages. There was an initial negotiation, but the department didn’t proceed with the dispatch because the safety guarantees weren’t strong enough. This time, it seems the KIA has also given its approval. So, the village elders came to Monghnyin Town again, saying they’re ready to bring the teachers back.”

For most of the last academic year schools were open in Monghnyin Township villages near to the border with Sagaing Region, though on occasion they had to temporarily close due to fighting. These schools are now preparing to re-open.

But, just across the state border in Sagaing Region in the Homalin Township villages of Namnit, Petkalar, and Parhokegyi schools will not be able to re-open as fighting there is still ongoing.

Previously the KIA and People's Defence Force (PDF) coalition, which controls around 80 percent of the Indawgyi Lake region had called a meeting with the area’s village elders where it told them that junta-run schools in KIA-controlled areas would be shut down and that the KIA would take over education provision in the area.

But now that the KIA has approved the re-opening of the government schools village elders are actively working to get them running again and are urgently arranging for the return of the teachers so that the schools can open in time for the new academic year, according to residents of the Indawgyi Lake area.

The area is home to 78 government schools catering for about 10,000 pupils. Of those, 10 are government high schools, nine are middle schools and the remaining 59 are primary and kindergarten schools.