Education in a war zone
We recently allocated some funds to a number of school being run in ethnic regions around Kachin and Shan states. It is remarkable that even as the military coup has disrupted life far and wide across Myanmar, there are those good-hearted volunteers who are thinking about the education and well-being of children. The following report was sent to us from one of the school supervisors, expressing gratitude for the donation that we were able to send, thanks to our very wonderful donor community. As the teacher goes on to say, the needs at this school continue to be severe, and so any further contribution, no matter how small, will mean so much to those running the school, and of course to the children themselves.
“There is battle and gun fight going on everyday, but we have to keep moving forward, and teach the kids.”
"When we receive a donation, we have to rush to buy everything. Among the four sub-schools at Zero Federal School, one school was first given a donation from Better Burma and the allowance was used for school supplies for the students and teacher to use. For most people nowadays, sending money is very easy, it is just sending from one application to another.
But at the moment, it is not at all easy for us. We have to try really hard to get money that is even already donated. We have to transfer points A to B to C and so on. And we must also keep safe even while we try to collect the donation. Even if the donations come in hand and in cash, it is a very difficult situation to buy the necessary items. And then, we are not always sure that the city will have necessary items for teachers and students. So we have to deal with merchants to buy in bulk. It’s not just a case of giving money to merchants and then merchants will bring us materials we need, we have to go through a lot of things! It takes about an hour and a half at most if we go from the city from our school. There are also checkpoints on the way, so it takes time. The price of a motorcycle is between 80,000 and 100,000 lakhs now, so even that is very expensive when we look at transportation costs. There are also bikers who are helping but because oil prices are starting to rise, they can't always help for free.
Everytime we hear the sound of battle, we have to stop studying and run to bomb shelters and whatnot. For children, at this age they should be studying, playing with friends, and be happy. Children from different religions are praying within their own respective faith when we are in the shelters, and we teachers encourage them to develop their own traditional spirituality.
Some of the parents are also missing, children have nowhere to go at all, so they must sleep at our schools. After the revolution, I want to care for all of my children more for mental health and human health. But for now, we all only want to survive.
Now, children are not the only victims of war. In addition to being affected by the high cost of medicine, or by natural floods, there is also no security in the forest and mountains, no matter how remote we go. Some children have to walk to and from school. If the mountain stream suddenly falls, it is very likely that the children will be swept away by the water. Now the “Ta Tar Gyi Village” and “A Lal Kyount Village” are both flooding. We have not been given the conditions to go to the other three schools and give donations.
In addition to zero federal schools, 4 primary schools and 2 secondary schools have been opened in the villages in the war zone. There is battle and gun fight going on everyday but we have to keep moving forward and teach the kids. Their future must be ensured for our community’s survival. So that’s why we need writing tools such as pencils, pens and books. The number of students is between 20-30 elementary students per school. Middle school students are between 50-60. I would like to donate 300,000 Myanmar Kyats to this school. Essential items are now double or triple in price due to inflation.
