600 school teachers from Arakan State forcibly transferred to mainland

Thinzar New, Narinjara News, 20 June 2024

Nearly 600 high school teachers from Arakan State are forcibly transferred to the mainland without any prior notice or official transfer orders.

A male employee informed Narinjara News that the list was posted at the State education office in Sittwe.

"Currently, the list of those high school teachers has been hanged at the Sittwe education office. My name is also  included in the list, but I did not receive any prior notice,” he added.

Although reports surfaced that nearly  1,200 high school and middle school teachers were transferred from Arakan State, the current list includes only 600 teachers who have been  transferred to Bago, Magway and Ayeyarwady regions.

"The government has not paid salaries to them for a long period. I don't know why. We are in a very difficult situation. I have decided not to go,” said a teacher who is transferred to Bogale town under the Ayeyarwady region.

At least nine townships of Arakan State and Paletwa of Chin State were recently captured by the Arakha Army (AA) fighters, following which many schools were closed down and hence thousands of teachers are not getting their salaries.

Narinjara News tried to contact the State education office by telephone, but failed.

Due to ongoing conflicts in the Arakan region, a large number of State government employees, including the teachers, had left their jobs because of security reasons. Many employees prefer to remain absent in offices.

Meanwhile, the department heads instructed senior officials, including the education and administrative staff- who fled due to fear of gunfighting in Sittwe, to return by 25 May.  If they had not returned, they were considered to be a part of civil disobedience movement (CDM). Some staff members definitely returned to Sittwe on the date.

In the AA-occupied towns namely  Paletwa, Pauktaw, Minbya, Ponnagyun, Kyauktaw, Rathedaung, Buthidaung, Mrauk-U, Myebon and Ramree, the military junta had closed their offices and hence all schools turned closed. On the other hand, many schools in Sittwe, Buthidaung, Maungdaw, Kyaukphyu and Taungup were closed due to the ongoing clashes.