MoeMaKa July 15 2022
Is the right to education – equally free?
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country due to public protests on the country’s economic collapse, arrived in Singapore on July 14. In 2022, it was the first time that a government leader fell due to mass protests in an Asian country in this century. There, if the armed security forces were to suppress the protest, the result could be different. The public is still protesting and calling for the resignation of the interim-president. The fleeing president was sent to Maldives by a Sri Lankan military plane. From Maldives to Singapore, he was transported by plane from Saudi Arabia. Singapore also accepted the fleeing president as a private visit. By looking at that, you can see that countries and governments tend to protect the so-called current government leaders.
The other news is that after the list of students and teachers of Kaung for You Education was leaked, the principal had also disappered from public and it was reported that the students and teachers attending the school online were being traced and captured inside Myanmar. That school was opened with the intention of going against the schools opened by the military council. It is stood as CDM school. Just like Kaung for You, there are also many online revolutionary schools opened in various local regions like controlled territories and war-evading areas by revolutionary comrades with CDM teachers and students who boycotted the military slave-education. Some have named these schools “Federal Schools”. The National Unity Government expressed that they welcomed and supported these schools and the prodemocracy education system. Most people said that they didn’t know exactly whether schools directly managed by NUG or not.
After the list of students and techers was leaked and the news of the military council’s arrests came out, the NUG Ministry of Education issued a statement. In the statement, Kaung for You School is blamed for the leak of personal information, and it is condemned that a terrorist group (Myanmar Military) should not threaten and arrest the students and teachers. For everyone, they are entitled to the right to education. When the military council started opening basic education schools, some NUG supporters and government members called for a boycott of the military council schools in order to maintain the CDM movement and they stated that they would not recognize the education of the students. Some observers have commented on NUG that criticizing the military council under the name “Right to Education” and, blaming for attending junta schools and recommending their own schools is like a double standard.
The NUG Ministry of Education announced on the same day that online schools will be recognized only after proper verification due to insuring privacy protection for students and teachers of private online schools. Deputy Minister Jar Htoi Pan announced on social media: “The Ministry of Education is currently working to verify and certify online schools. Soon, the accredited schools will be announced. Up until now, online schools have been verbally recognized as revolutionary schools (level 1 accreditation), and according to the published Recognition policy, level 2 is still being verified. All online schools must receive level 2 accreditation accordingly.”
There are a total of (51) online schools that are in connection with the Ministry of Education of the National Unity Government and as for teaching on the ground, people-based schools are opened in Yangon, Mandalay, Sagaing, Magway, Bago, Ayeyarwady, Thanintharyi, Kachin, Kayah, Karen, Chin, Mon and Shan, etc. Parents and students who have turned their backs on military council schools and are relying on private online schools. Parents have expressed that they want the NUG government to quickly establish proper guidelines.
The Spring Revolution is reaching one and a half years. Fighting has intensified in the states and regions where the KNU ethnic armed forces are based. In Chin State, Sagaing Division and the upper part of Magwe Division, various PDF groups and military council troops are still fighting. The local residents have to leave their homes and live in evasion. Many are fleeing into the forests, while others have fled to the cities where the situation is still stable. Although the situation looks normal in cities, there are still clashes between the security forces of the military council and the under-ground guerrilla forces of the Spring Revolution in cities.