The new battleground for Myanmar’s hearts and minds lies in the classroom.

At the beginning of this month, schools opened for the new school year. Yet the uptake was small. A mere 20 per cent of schoolchildren turned up for class, according to local sources.

The reason? Schools have become a battleground for the hearts and minds of young pliable minds, with many teachers, parents and kids boycotting the process.

As a result of many teachers joining the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and the overall unrest and danger in the country, the military council’s efforts to open state-run and private schools on 1 June have been an abysmal failure.

Observers claim that only military families and parents from villages who fear their children will lose five years of education due to threats from the military are sending their kids to school.

State schools in cities, where there have been brutal crackdowns, have seen few enrolling. And states such as Chin and Kayah where heavy fighting has been taking place have seen school doors padlocked.

All this comes after about a year of disruption to the schooling of children as a result of lockdowns and restrictions imposed to tackle the COVID-19 virus scare.

Military motives?

With the opening of universities and schools amidst the unrest, the military has attempted to show the international community that they can handle the unrest and that the country is returning to normalcy.

The second reason for the military council’s eagerness to open the doors might be to divert the public attention away from politics.

And the third reason is the possible bomb attacks at schools which might happen in this difficult time. This is the main reason why parents are not willing to send their children to school.

Such a response should be no surprise. Generations who have lived under decades of military rule since 1962 know they cannot trust the military.

Agents of the military are suspected of placing bombs at schools and then blaming the incidents on others.

“They (military) want to drive a wedge between the people and NUG (National Unity Government), CRPH and the teachers who joined CDM,” said a 40-year-old teacher, who preferred to remain anonymous, who joined the CDM in Yangon.

He pointed to the blasts and outbreak of fires at schools where security forces are stationed.

“Those who want democracy will never do such activities,” he said, “We are not extremists. We want to see education for children, but we have joined the CDM just to disrupt the machinery of the military junta.”

“In one event in Mawlamyine, soldiers came to a school and ordered a headmistress who did not join CDM and was staying there, to leave the school. Then they set fire to the school and put the blame on the people for the fire,” he added.

Even teachers who did not join the CDM did not send their children to school for this academic year.

A school that has over 5,000 students from the primary, middle and high level registered every year in North-Okkalapa Township of Yangon only had just over 700 students this year. But, even then, not all of those enrolled turned up for classes.

This is a reflection of the education sector across the country this year.

“Who can take responsibility for the safety of our children?” said Aung Aung, 52, living in North Okkalapa Township said. His wife is a teacher and they also do not send their children to school this year.

The security presence at schools is frightening. Armed guards are stationed at schools in cities and towns. In photos posted to social media, soldiers are seen showing their guns to young children, an act that sparked anger from the people.

“These photos give us thoughts that classrooms are not safe for children,” said a comment under the post.

“An organization which does not care about any laws or society has no ethics and integrity,” said another comment.

Arrest of teachers

After the coup, the military junta arrested teachers who are believed to be leaders of the teacher protests and suspended thousands of teachers from their duty for joining the CDM.

Before opening the schools, the military council also tried to open universities amidst tight security last month but it failed. Hundreds of faculty members of the universities, including 300 from Yangon University and 245 from Mandalay University who joined the CDM were terminated from duty recently.

Out of about 150,000 teachers who were suspended from their duty by the military, about 75,000 have been terminated from their duty, according to the Basic Education Employers’ General Strike Committee.

The military has also ordered private schools not to hire university faculty professors and teachers who have been terminated.

To fill the vacant positions of teachers who were removed nationwide, the military council has appointed daily-wage teachers they quickly hired.

But whether the urgently recruited teachers can work with the previous government’s updated education system is questionable.

Walking a tightrope

On the first day of the school enrollment week on 24 May, some state schools saw just a few dozen students or no students at all for the sign-up.

Some made phone calls to private schools to enquire about the situation while some non-CDM teachers from state schools contacted parents of students and urged them to enrol their children for the sake of their education.

While state schools are understaffed due to the CDM movement’s boycott, the private schools are sandwiched between legal punishment from the military council if they fail to open, and “social punishment” from the revolutionary forces if they open their schools.

“Some students phoned me to enquire about enrolment, I opened the school but I urged them to consider enrolment carefully again before making a final decision,” one private school founder told Mizzima.

On the first day of school enrolment at his school, he also saw some parents connected with the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) who came to investigate whether his school had opened or not.

During the school enrolment week, he opened the door of the school for enrolment.

As he explained, he had struggled for two decades to build his private school, and he did not want to surrender in this difficult situation. As he said, he was prepared to open online classes if there are a few students this year.

“If I cannot deal with this situation economically, I will request the authorities to allow us to suspend the operation of this school,” he said.

“This is the best way to avoid 505 (a) legal punishment and the revoking of our licence for denying to open the school,” he added.

“What should I do when the number of students is so few or if there are no students?”

Difficult choice

Many private schools are caught between a rock and a hard place, uncertain as to whether to open or not.

Most of the private schools in the country have decided not to open their schools and sought ways to avoid legal punishment from the military council.

There is no private school that is open in Mandalay and there are few private schools that are open in other cities.

“I declared that I open the school but I report to the township education officer daily since the first day of the enrolment week that there is no enrolment,” a young founder of a private school told Mizzima.

Reporting to authorities that there are no students and no teachers at a private school this year is a better reason than denying the order from the military council to avoid legal punishment.

This is the answer found by private schools in the country to the question “What should I do when the number of students is a few or there are no students?”

“Revoking the license is the highest punishment and we can restart this business when the situation returns to normal,” said the young founder.

Junta accusations

At a press conference in Nay Pyi Taw on 12 June, the military junta’s spokesperson Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun accused the NUG and PDF of committing blasts, fires and killing over 100 people, related to schools.

The military made similar accusations at previous press conferences.

Maj-Gen Zaw Min Tun claimed there were 109 cases of blasts at schools, and 65 cases of setting fires with the intent to burn down schools carried out by the NLD and its supporters.

NUG’s deputy defence minister Khin Ma Ma Myo denied the accusations of the military saying the NUG’s people’s defence forces or PDF avoid destructive acts and they do their work in conformity with a code of conduct.

“The military council is doing the terrorist acts and pointing an accusing finger at the CRPH and NUG to tarnish our image,” she said.

With fear gripping the country, and many parents and children boycotting education, it is uncertain when normality will return.

Zin Min Maung for Mizzima