About 300 children in 42 displaced persons (IDP) camps in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State have missed an entire school year of education due to a lack of school places.
They missed out on their education despite the Kachin State Chief Minister, U Khet Htein Nan, pledging that all school-aged children in Kachin State IDP camps would have access to education.
An official at a camp near Nawngching Village said that some children from his camp were unable to attend school last academic year because the total number of IDP and local children exceeded the capacity of the village school.
He said to NMJ: “As a result, some kids in the Nawngching IDP camp have missed an entire school year. Some teenagers have had to start working because they’re not in school, while others have had to attend skill classes that aren’t part of the school curriculum.”
About half of the IDP children who missed out on an education last year no longer want to return to school. Most of those who do not want to return to education are students of high school age who would prefer to work or do different courses of education.
“Some end up working at gold mining sites, while others are looking into outside courses instead of the regular school curriculum. A few still want to go to school, but with all the challenges they face, they choose to work instead,” said the aforementioned camp official.
Following an escalation of fighting in Kachin State at the beginning of 2024, Kachin State Chief Minister U Khet Htein Nan told MNJ on 22 May 2024, before the start of the 2024-25 academic year, that the Kachin State government was working actively to ensure all children in Kachin State, including IDP children, could attend school that year.
At that time he said: “Schools will reopen on 3 June 2024. We're working to make sure all students can get an education. We're also getting ready for IDP children to enrol in schools near their camps.”
But, despite the best efforts of camp officials and elders from surrounding communities, due to various challenges some IDP children in Kachin State were unable to receive any education for the whole academic year.
The parents of some of the IDP children who were not receiving an education in the camps considered sending them away to towns where they could receive an education, but most had to give up on the idea, due to the high cost and security concerns.
Two junta-operated high schools opened in Waingmaw Town last academic year, but attendance was low because parents worried for the security of their children if they were to attend those schools. Resistance forces do not directly attack schools, as to do so would be against the rules of war and engagement, but junta affiliated schools are often guarded by junta soldiers who might be targeted by resistance forces. Parents also worry that if they send their children to junta-operated schools, others in their community will report to local resistance groups that their family supports the junta, which could cause them problems
There are 42 IDP camps in Waingmaw Township located in villages such as Nawngching, Labang, Inkan, Gwi Htu, and Hkangchiyang, on the Waingmaw side of the Irrawaddy River, near to the Bala Min Htin Bridge that connects the townships of Myitkyina, on the west bank of the Irrawaddy and Waingmaw, on the east bank.
These 42 camps house about 20,000 people from approximately 2,200 households who fled fighting between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the junta, which broke out in Waingmaw Town and nearby areas on 7 March 2024.
