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Education amidst armed conflicts, a perspective from Saw Law Eh Moo KNU’s Head of the Education Department

Paskorn Jumlongrach

 

Throughout the fight for freedoms for more than 77 years of the ethnic Karens led by the Karen National Union (KNU), an emphasis has been constantly placed on education. 

The Department of Education is among key divisions within the KNU’s structure and is one of the 12 Departments in the seven administrative areas under KNU’s control. The situation following the military coup led by the Burma Army and Senior General Min Aung Hlaing has, however, brought about swift change, particularly the violent battles that have spread to all over Burma.

Reports and pictures of schools that have been turned into a battleground and set on fire, and how children have to run for their lives into the forests, caves, or even across the border in Thailand, have constantly been published. The brutality of wars in Burma is attested to by how no single areas have been spared, not even schools, communities, monasteries and hospitals. 

Nowadays, children have to attend their classes in the forests and mountains as it is not possible to return to their schools as the State Administration Council (SAC) and the Burma Army continue to send jetfighters to drop bombs, particularly when they spot even a tiny movement and several communities have been assumed to harbor their support for the hostile parties. 

The provision of education for children in such battlefields are indeed challenging. 

“Each area manages its own education. Schools that exist in conflict zones know well how to get adapted when the wars are raging on violently. In such situation, they have to immediately set up their temporary schools in the forests” said Saw Law Eh Moo, Head of the KNU’s Karen Education & Culture Department (KECD) as he explained about the kind of education provided in Karen State. 

At present, 1,660 schools are affiliated to KECD with 145,233 students and 11,231 teachers.  There are both schools that adhere to the Burma’s official curriculum, and those that rely on Karen curriculum.   

As the KNU’s controlled area in Karen State has constantly expanded, particularly along the border with Thailand, many more schools which used to adopt the Burma’s official curriculum has turned to use the KECD’s curriculum.

“Schools have never been engaged in such armed conflicts before and studying took place in buildings. Now, as the wars have escalated, we need to develop a new management mechanism. KECD has distributed self-defense manuals and organized drills in response to an emergency. Rules and regulations have been adapted according to the situations. We have also ensured flexibility of certain requirements. For example, it used to require eight months of class study in a year, but given the armed conflicts, the students are allowed to study only six months a year. We need to come to term and get adapted to the situation” said Saw Law Eh Moo, one of the 11 KNU’s Central Executive Committee’s members to shed light on the overview and detail in local area and how the KNU’s education system has been made more flexible. 

Performing the duties similar to the KNU’s Minister of Education, Saw Law Eh Moo gave us background the education situation in Karen State. Since the peace talks with the Thein Sein’s government, one key obstacle that impeded an education was how the Burma government’s attempts to expand its controlled area. In those days, they often claimed various schools existed in the Burma’s controlled area. Meanwhile, KECD has been organizing the education that suits the best to the ethnic Karens. It has led to a fight to acquire power over education management. As a result, the ethnic Karen’s education has not grown as much as it could. Until the civilian government led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a joint committee, the NRPC, was established to coordinate among the Burma government and the ethnic groups. Still the situation hardly got better. 

“Following the outbreak of Covid-19, there was a disagreement between the Burmese government and  KECD as the former wanted to bring to a halt all educational services. But in our opinion, doing so would certainly backfired since it was still feasible to provide for an education in certain areas. It prompted the Burma Army to intervene and it had nearly brought about an armed conflict since both sides wanted to exert their power over the territories. We tried to calm the situation down. And following the military coup, many teachers joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).”

Initially after the military coup Burma, a disagreement regarding the education still persisted. As the CDMers wanted to pause all kinds of educational services, while KNU deemed that since the outbreak of Covid-19 had taken much toll on the education, they did not want to stop such educational services. KNU was thus viewed as a propagator of conflict. Teachers were subject to intimidation while bomb threats were levelled against schools. It has led to an attempt to forge a mutual understanding and KECD decided to embrace the schools that adopted the Burma military government’s curriculum in Karen State. At present, everything is regulated by the KNU’s rules since the Burmese government’s laws have since been repealed according the announcement of the National Unity Government (NUG).

Saw Law Eh Moo, Head of the KNU’s Karen Education & Culture Department (KECD)

“Several schools  used to be affiliated with the Burmese government, but had to stop their operation since they were located in armed conflict zones  As KNU has intervened to support them, detail in the schools’ name plaques has been changed to the KECD’s affiliation. It has disappointed the Burma Army and they started to shell or send jetfighters to bomb such schools. As a result in many areas, the education has to be offered in forested or mountainous areas as local people were afraid of such bombardments. For example, in northern Karen State, on the west of Sittoung River under the 3rd Regiment, the territory has been declared under the authority of KECD. Still, we have not put up any new signs or billboards. We let things change gradually. If we declared it right away, it would humiliate the Burma Army and they would resort to violence. That will affect local people. Therefore, we let the local people to manage the situation themselves” said the KNU’s Minister of Education to explain how different approaches have been adopted to manage the education amidst armed conflicts to ensure the best interest of the children. 

At present, students in Karen State are required to attend a compulsory education up to Grade 12, an equivalent of Mathayom Six in Thailand’s education. Formerly, students were required to attend class up to 800-1,200 hours. But since the wars have raged on, it was made flexible for them to attend 75% of the time or 800 hours. As to the extension of education beyond Grade 12, seven educational institutions in various areas offer the diploma education and are managed by KNU. Some students study the curriculum offered by local universities that provide special curriculum to train teachers, particularly in border area. 

As to how many among the 1,660 schools that are now situated in armed conflict areas, the KECD’s Head said that “Actually, all of them are situated in battleground zones since no area can be said to be free of armed conflicts. Even in areas under the 7th Regiment along the Moei River and the Thai border, they are literally in a conflict zone.”

“Our demand is schools should be a safe area and every party must stop its military operation in schools. Through its repeated announcements, KECD has demanded that schools be declared a safe area and be free from aerial attack. Schools should not be used as a military base. Most importantly, no force shall be used to arrest teachers or students to serve the interest of wars.”

It is unlikely that KECD’s demands and pleas shall be met amidst the expansion of violent conflicts throughout Burma as all parties strive to achieve their victories for the survival of their people. Therefore, international legal frameworks that should apply to armed conflicts have barely been applied to these battlefields. 

“We are raising fund to build bunkers for the children. Meanwhile, we need to acquire funds to support the teachers as well.”

As to the question if the massive warfare led by ethnic armed organizations all over Burma will help to restore the ideologies of the ethnic Karens through its education system or not, after such domination of the Burma’s education system for a long period of time; 

“It is difficult to answer such question. KNU has been constantly called out for impeding the education opportunities of the children since we do not want them to study under the Burma’s official curriculum. If we leave it too open, there would be too much flexibility. But if we impose too much restriction, it would induce discontent. Amidst the armed conflict, many parties have started to realize the importance of the ethnic Karen identity and the KNU’s resolution to fight for the independence. And this time, we want to prove to the people how important the issues.”

This is a translation from original Thai article https://transbordernews.in.th/home/?p=40301

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