Mizzima-Sept 11
On the 9th of September 2024, the International Day to Protect Education from Attack, the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) issued a statement condemning all actions that put students and education personnel at risk, deprive them of their rights, and subject them to deadly violence. This includes the bombing, shelling, and burning of schools and educational facilities. Throughout Burma, students and teachers are being killed, maimed, threatened, arbitrarily arrested or forcibly disappeared by the State Administration Council (SAC). Today, we call on all relevant stakeholders to closely monitor the unfolding violence against education in Burma and to take concrete action to prevent and punish these attacks. For decades, ethnic minorities in Burma have been fighting for the right to learn and teach in accordance with their own heritage and identity, as ethnic culture has been subject to systematic control and suppression by the Burma Army and government. For instance, until 2014, teaching ethnic minority languages in schools was prohibited across Burma. Many villagers thus considered the development policies established by the Burma government as a means of Burmanization: for instance, during the 2015 Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) period, more government schools were built in mixed-control areas and the curriculum did not include the Karen language or culture. The threat or use of violence against students, education personnel and infrastructures has been documented from both the military junta and ethnic resistance organizations in the conflict. Yet, since the coup in February 2021, the frequency and intensity of SAC attacks has led to a systematic increase in human rights abuses, dramatically disrupting education and impacting learning opportunities for students in Southeast Burma. Read more at: https://eng.mizzima.com/2024/09/11/13839
