Pasakorn Jumlongrach

The melodious and joyful noise of recitation could be heard from a small school building, a bamboo makeshift. Both its walls and floors are made of bamboo while the roofing is made of Tong Tung leaves
Actually, such makeshift does not deserve being called a “building.” It could be simply called a shanty, a shack, or a shed to render its true meaning. Still, such small cabin was the only facility which makes possible the studying of 19 students and two teachers. Hence, the term “building”.
Inside the cabin were two 1×1 meter blackboards, each of which was tainted with white chalk handwriting on both sides. Asides from being a tool for education, the blackboards serve as a patriation of the classrooms.
The youngest student is three in the elementary level of preschool while the oldest is 12 in Grade 3.
By the Salween River which meanders along the Thai border in Mae Sariang and Sob Moei Districts, Mae Hong Son, there exist a number of such small schools. The armed conflict between the Myanmar military regime and the ethnic armed organizations has since escalated into a civil war throughout the country following the military coup led by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in 2021.
The Myanmar army’s jetfighters and drones kept coming here to drop bombs indiscriminately without specifically targeting the military targets. Instead, they kept bombing regardless if the receiving ends are communities, temples, hospitals, or schools. They simply assume the people down there are part of the adversary faction.
“All children here have fled from conflict zones” said a teacher who has to do everything here, about the background of all the 19 students.
“Several students have to walk from another village. It takes them around 30 minutes to walk along the Salween River. During rainy days, they need their parents to bring them here” recalled the teacher about a group of 4–5-year-old-students who have to walk across the mountains to get to the school.
Across the Salween River that flows along the Thai border is the Karen State where the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Myanmar army have been engaged in an intense armed conflict. Three years ago, the Myanmar army sent here jetfighters to bomb Day Bu Noh where the headquarters of the KNU’s 5th Brigade is located. All the buildings there including the school were destroyed causing many children to flee to the jungles. This was similar to various villages in the Salween River Basin which experienced the bombing by the Myanmar army.
Nowadays, even though KNU has successfully pushed out the Myanmar soldiers from the banks of the Salween River along the border, still, it is not possible for the villagers to return to their homes. They continued to seek refuge in the forests since the Myanmar army kept sending drones to conduct the recognizance all the time and kept dispatching jetfighters to drop bombs on them when spotting any movement. Meanwhile, the students have to attend class in hiding.
“Upon hearing the planes’ noise, everyone keeps quiet” said the teacher about the reaction of his students when hearing noise of the Myanmar’s warplanes. “Most children here have had experience running from the bombing.”
Fleeing from bombs has been normalized here and the local villagers know too well how to respond to such situations. The children who used to tremble have become numb to the noise. They can only use their quietness as a response to the situation.
“I want them to be able to read and write so that they can further their study” said the teacher about the goals of being a voluntary teacher.
Both teachers, 22 and 24, receive no pay. They are only provided with rice and food as well as accommodation. The school has been built to cater to children of the officers and in-patients of a medical facility by the Salween River. As local people are aware of it, a growing number of them keep sending their children to get enrolled here even though there is barely any learning equipment, not even notebooks or pencils.
What they have is the “spirit”.
The spirit of the teachers who are determined to teach and the spirit of the students who are ready to learn.
The melodious chatters got louder than noise from the Salween River. They sound so beautiful.
“Before, we, teachers and students, did not live so poorly like this. Then, our community lived a normal life. The teachers used to attend a school in Day Bu Noh” recalled the teacher.
Just a few years ago, Day Bu Noh was a large community of Mutraw. But as the area has been flattened by the Myanmar army’s shelling and turned into a battleground, the villagers and the children have to scatter everywhere to hide themselves in the forests and mountains. The teaching methods have to change according to the situations.
According to the KNU’s Karen Education & Culture Department (KECD), 1,660 schools in Karen State are located in conflict zones and around 145,233 children are being exposed to a situation on the verge of full-scale armed conflict.
KECD demands that schools be declared a safe zone and all parties refrain from conducting military operations in schools. Such call appears to fall on deaf ears of the Myanmar army as lately, the bombing of schools continues unabatedly.
As Monsoon Season is being replaced by Winter, this indicates how an enormous armed conflict is looming.
Last week, the Myanmar army’s drones attacked the KNU’s headquarters by the Moei river. Before that, the KNU has laid siege to an increasing number of the Myanmar army’s military bases.
Amidst the sound of war drums, the studying in the small school by the Salween River still persists.
The melodious chatters in the mountains could still be heard in various battlegrounds around Myanmar. No one knows for how long such young children’s noise will still be heard.
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This is a translation of original Thai article https://transbordernews.in.th/home/?p=40382