MYANMAR
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Students face an uncertain future of fleeing or fighting

All schools and universities in Myanmar have been closed since March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The civilian administration, led by the National League for Democracy, was successfully containing the virus’s spread and planning to launch a vaccination programme across the country in early February 2021.

But, on 1 February the military declared a “state of emergency” and detained President U Win Myint, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and other elected government officials before parliament resumed for another term (2021 to 2025).

Since the coup, people in Myanmar have been peacefully demonstrating against the army by banging on pots and pans at 8pm following the traditional belief of chasing out evil spirits.

On the day after the coup, healthcare workers from Mandalay and Naypyidaw launched the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) to support the civilian government and resist the military coup.

Medical personnel from more than 110 government hospitals and more than 50 health departments across the nation joined the CDM immediately after its launch on 3 February and refused to work under the military regime.

In early May 2021, the military ordered the re-opening of schools amid the pandemic without putting adequate preventive measures in place and more than 60% of school teachers refused to return.

Consequently, the military junta has sacked at least 125,000 teachers and around 19,500 university staff for opposing the coup.

Additionally, the military has detained at least 550 students and professors for opposing the coup. So how has the coup affected Burmese university students’ current education and future careers?

Education blocked

I consulted 18 students, half of whom were undergraduates. They said that the military coup had destroyed their future and blocked their career path. They lamented both the impact of COVID and the military coup.

One of the participants said: “I have been stuck in the final year of my bachelor of science in mathematics for over a year. My plan to pursue a masters degree at a foreign university has totally crumbled. Now, I have no job. I am the oldest son in the family. I feel so disappointed that I cannot support my family. I have lost everything I hoped for.”

Moreover, some participants who are currently studying abroad said that it is unsafe for them to return home. Further, they stated that they were unable to focus on their studies because they were always frightened about what would happen to their family members or what would happen in other parts of the nation as the military raided citizens’ homes at night and tortured them.

An uncertain future

All participants said they were unclear and felt their future had been lost as their daily routine had become a simple struggle to survive.

Nearly a third stated that they wanted to seek refuge abroad so they could escape the situation and nearly half indicated that they wanted to join the federal army or people’s defence force formed by the National Unity Government, the shadow government.

Many participants said there was no opportunity to fulfil their dreams under the junta administration due to the lack of a rule of law or any social justice.

Additionally, most participants stated that they do not want to learn or study under the junta administration. They do not think there will be any developments in education under the dictatorship. They have no idea how they can study if they don’t have any right to think critically and cannot express their opinions.

Scholarship programme

The military coup has destroyed students’ ability to continue their studies, their mental health and their fundamental human rights. Currently, hundreds of young students who should have their nose in a book or be plugged into a computer preparing for a better future are in the forests of Myanmar doing military training so they can fight back against the military and restore their dreams and their democracy.

The military has killed more than 912 peaceful protesters, over a hundred of whom were university students.

Therefore, the United Nations, the international community and universities worldwide need to collectively launch a short- and long-term scholarship and mentorship programme to help Burmese students in Myanmar and abroad to study outside the country, in particular, those students whom the military is seeking to arrest for opposing the coup.

Tual Sawn Khai is a PhD fellow in sociology and social policy at the School of Graduate Studies, Lingnan University, Hong Kong.