Myanmar Allows Higher Education to Fully Resume

The military regime allowed the full resumption of higher education Monday, 3 1/2 years after closing down colleges and universities to stop anti-government demonstrations.

About 400,000 high school graduates had been waiting their turns to begin university studies since the closures in December 1996. Neither the closures nor the reopening was officially announced.

Nearly 60,000 first-, second- and third-year students in the arts and sciences began classes Monday. They followed about 20,000 fourth-year students in those fields who resumed courses June 27. Classes at institutions teaching medicine, computer science and engineering were reopened in stages beginning in January 1999.

Pro-democracy leaders and foreign human rights organizations have cited the closing of schools as one of many human rights abuses inflicted by the military on the population in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

“Students have always been viewed as a threat to the military regime and are considered the most vocal group of opposition. Therefore, the military is sacrificing youths’ future in order to prolong its tyrannical reign,” the anti-government Campaign Committee for Open Schools said in a statement.

Colleges and universities in Myanmar have been open for only 30 months since 1988, the year the military brutally crushed a pro-democracy uprising, said the group, which is composed of Myanmar dissident organizations in exile.

Military institutes, endowed with funds and state-of-the-art facilities, have remained open throughout this period, creating a “dangerous division” in the country, the statement said.

“Burma has become a house divided. The military institutes being the only way to get a decent education, only pro-military students have a future and are guaranteed work opportunities,” it said.

Students are being allowed to register at educational institutions after signing a declaration that they will steer clear of political activities. Student unions and other student organizations have been banned.

Students who earlier attended the arts and science faculty of Yangon University, a traditional hotbed of dissent, are now attending classes at two suburban universities.

“I am very excited to go to college, but I’m very disappointed that I cannot study at Yangon University, where my elder sister and my parents got their degrees,” said 21-year-old Win Win Nwe.