He said: “Some children cannot go to school because their parents do not give them the chance. They need to work on farms and take care of their younger brothers and sisters.”

He said that when LDN made a rural development survey they found that most school-age children were helping their parents by working.

The areas where the problem of children not going to school are worst in Kayah State are: Lo-Bar-Kho and Daw-Yauk-Khu village-tracts in remote areas of Demawso Township; villages in Bawlakhe District, Yoar-Thit Sub-Township; and Ho-Yar, K-Kaw and Daw-Law-Saw village-tracts in Phruso Township.

Daw Me Me Htwe the head teacher of Daw-Khu-Le Village Primary School explained that because grades four, eight and ten will have to take government exams in the 2014-15 school year they are offering free after school classes.

She said: “Now no fees [of any sort] are collected in school.”

Previously tuition was free but students’ parents had to pay for registration fees, books and sometimes other things like furniture and teaching aids.

Sayar Mozet explained that parents have no idea of children’s rights and do not realise how important education is, so they do not send their children to school. They would prefer to have the children working with them because that can provide poor families with valuable extra income.

Also, the children of former internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have returned to their old villages in Hsataw Township are unable to study because there is a lack of teaching aids and other essential equipment.

Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI