Arakan students from Rangoon’s Dagon University protested in front of Rangoon City Hall calling for child refugees from Arakan State to be helped to continue their education in Arakan State, at 4pm on 12 May.
The chairman of the Dagon University Arakan Students’ Union, Ko Soe Min Tun said to Narinjara News: “War refugee children in our Arakan State are facing difficulties in continuing their education because they have had to move from their areas. So, we held this campaign to collect funds for children to be able to continue their education. I want to tell local and overseas donors to help us as much as they can.”
Ko Ye Min Oo, an advisor to the Arakan Students’ Union, said: “This is the first step for ethnic people who want to participate in [activities to] stop the fighting. On other days we will go out and ask for donations. It is not enough [to address] only organisations within the country. We will [also] urge international organisations and other countries to provide assistance.”
He explained that the government alone cannot solve the children’s education issues.
He said: “Schools are opening soon and there aren’t any school supplies for children. The government alone cannot solve this issue. We all need to solve it together. Civil war happens because of those that desire war. When there are wars in the ethnic areas, the ethnic people lose their rights. That’s why we will continue with this campaign.”
Over 10 students from the Arakan Students’ Union attended the protest. They held placards that said: ‘Stop War’, ‘All Ethnic People Need to Participate for Internal Peace’ and ‘Support Education of Child Refugees from War’.
Translated by Thida Linn
Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
