Food supplies were collected from the local community to feed students at the Palay Yadanar monastic education school in Arakan State’s Thandwe Township during the ongoing third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to school officials.
The school is home to impoverished students from Arakan State. Although the school was closed due to Covid-19 pandemic, more than 100 students have not returned to their homes and are still living in the school.
The abbot of the Palay Yadanar monastic education school said the students are fed with alms from the community and donations from some donors.
“Some students returned home and some are still staying at the school. The students are fed with alms from the community and donations from some donors. There are not as many donors as before,” the monk told DMG.
The number of students at Palay Yadana monastic education school is increasing every year and students from various parts of Arakan State including students from camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) who are having difficulty attending school due to financial constraints are also attending the school.
There are problems securing adequate food, shelter and classrooms at the school due to the increase in the number of students.
The government has provided K500,000 a month to hire teachers for primary and post-primary students, but has not yet provided cash assistance for high school students, the abbot said.
In addition, the school has a total of 40 teachers and each teacher is hired for K400,000 a month, so the cost of students’ meals and teachers’ salaries totals more than K10 million per month, according to school officials.
Prior to the third wave of Covid-19, a donation group was formed to provide food for students, but now the group is unable to continue collecting donations due to the pandemic, said Daw Mi Mi Khaing, who regularly takes part in the collection of donations.
“The markets are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic; donors are no longer donating so we are urging people to donate cash and food to the school. I want the local government to help the students at the school because the school is in need of food, shelter and classrooms,” she said.
Ma Hla Hla Than, a student at the Palay Yadanar monastic education school, said students have been losing their educational opportunities because the school has been closed for two years.
“Now I can no longer go to school, so I help my parents with their farming activities. Because I did not go to school for two years, I lost access to education as we got older. I want the school to be reopened as soon as possible,” she said.
The Palay Yadana monastic education school is the fourth-largest school of its kind in Myanmar, and has been open for more than a decade.
