Myanmar Spring Chronicle – Scenes from June 17
(MoeMaKa), June 18, 2026
School Principal Couple Killed in Nyaung-U District; Eight Other Education Staff Detained
On June 15, a school principal of a branch high school in Nyaungpinkan Village, Nyaung-U Township, Mandalay Region, and her husband were shot dead inside staff housing on the school compound by an armed group. On the same day, in Tawbya Village of Ngathayauk Township, Nyaung-U District, seven teachers and one school staff member were reportedly detained by an armed group.
These incidents occurred about two weeks after the start of the 2026–27 academic year, which officially opened on June 1. The detention and killing of education personnel have now re-emerged in areas where PDF armed groups are active and exercise significant influence.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the killing of the principal and her husband in Nyaungpinkan Village. Likewise, no armed organization has publicly identified itself as responsible for the detention of the eight education workers in Tawbya Village. Nyaungpinkan Village is located east of the Nyaung-U–Kyaukpadaung road, while Tawbya Village lies just east of Ngathayauk town.
Since many villages in Nyaung-U Township are areas where People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) actively operate against the military regime, many observers assume that PDF-affiliated armed groups were responsible for both incidents.
Following the military coup in 2021, education workers became the second most active sector in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), after healthcare workers. Not only teachers but also many parents kept their children out of state schools. Some university and college students also boycotted classes and instead participated in alternative or interim education programs, often delivered online.
During the early years after the coup, attacks, killings, and threats against education personnel who did not join the CDM occurred across much of the country, except in some ethnic areas. School principals and teachers were frequently targeted. Although such incidents appeared to decline somewhat over the past one or two years, similar cases are now reappearing in some villages in Myanmar’s central dry zone as the 2026–27 school year begins.
The author argues that the National Unity Government (NUG) should now reassess its education policies after five years of military rule. Questions should be examined, including how successful interim education programs have been and whether online learning is realistically accessible for people in rural villages with low incomes and limited access to internet connectivity, computers, and other educational resources. Necessary policy adjustments should be made and communicated publicly.
The areas where these recent killings and detentions occurred are among Myanmar’s least developed rural communities, where residents generally have very low incomes.
Given that it remains uncertain whether the armed revolution or the effort to remove military rule will succeed by the end of this year or next, the author argues that policies should clearly prohibit threats or restrictions on children’s access to education in their local communities. Beyond policy declarations, those responsible for killings and other abuses should be held accountable in practice.
The author further notes that wealthy families can send their children abroad for education, while middle-income families may be able to relocate their children to larger cities within Myanmar. However, poor rural families dependent on farming, livestock raising, or daily wage labor generally cannot afford such options. Their children can only study in the villages and towns where they live.
It is therefore important, the author says, to recognize that people living in military-controlled areas often have no practical alternative to government schools. Politicizing education and forcing it to become an extension of political conflict may eventually be recognized as a misguided policy and practice.
The article also references a recent directive issued by local Pa-Ah-Pha and Pa-Ka-Pha groups in Pale Township, which instructed parents to immediately withdraw children enrolled in schools located in military-controlled towns and warned students not to return to resistance-controlled areas until the revolution is over. The directive generated widespread criticism. However, according to the author, Myanmar’s NUG Ministry of Education did not publicly address or take responsibility for the order.
Since June marks the beginning of the basic education school year, education-related incidents are occurring in various places. The author concludes that the NUG government should now review its policies, assess how they are being implemented at the grassroots level, make necessary corrections, and publicly explain its position and responsibilities regarding these developments.