Teachers plan to resume classes they suspended last month for children living in an internally displaced persons (IDPs) camp in eastern Demawso Township.

“We had to run away. Now we have to start again from the beginning…We have to gather the children and have a discussion with their parents,” an instructor told Kantarawaddy Times.

Twelve teachers are ready to teach 100 students from kindergarten to grade 4, the source said. Next week, they want to resume the classes only held for 14 days before being stopped because of security concerns. But they still need books, pencils, whiteboards, rulers and other supplies.

Because of the pandemic and military coup, they have not attended school for nearly two years, the teacher said, which “is why we want to educate them. It has been so long the children find it difficult to write words.”

During the temporary ceasefire, they plan to make a school in a hall in a nearby village. They are also preparing for mobile classes in the camps.

Fighting erupted between the Burma Army and the People’s Defence Force in May, leading to the displacement of over 100,000 villagers in Karenni State.

Despite an informal peace agreement in place, many fear returning to their homes in Demawso Township because government soldiers are staying in their villages.

In other cases, there is nowhere for them to return after the military destroyed their homes during indiscriminate shelling.