Around 300 parents of students from Dhamatha Village, Kyaikmayaw Township, Mon State, staged a protest in downtown Kyaikmayaw on Wednesday 17th December to protest against people living on Dhamatha Village Primary School's land.
The protesting parents marched throughout Kyaikmayaw Town, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, holding signs and shouting slogans such as: “No intrusion on the land of Dhamatha Village Primary School”, “The government must take action against those who intruded”, and “school buildings must be rebuilt”.
The land designated for the Dhamatha Village Primary School was sold by the former village chairman and the school committee as housing plots. Local Dhamatha residents have appealed to the appropriate authorities, but so far no action has been taken to resolve this dispute.
protester Ko Khin Zaw Oo said: “We already submitted [a] letter to the respective authorities to solve this matter but, so far, they have not taken any action yet. Because the authorities have not done anything, we cannot bear it anymore, and now come to protest.”
Dhamatha Village Primary School's plot of 1.38 acres was sold by the former village administrator to the people currently residing on the school land.
According to Ko Min Aye Soe, a leader of the protesting parents, due to these intruding individuals, the school has been closed and students have been attending other schools making it very hard for local students to attend school.
He said: “Lots of students have to study at the high school. Since the students from this [area] have to go to study at the high school, the classrooms have been so crowded that it’s difficult for the school children to sit and learn in the class."
According to protest leaders, though the protest group submitted a request for permission for 800 protestors to participate in the protest, the authorities only gave permission for 300 people to attend the protest.
“We do not know about this matter. We only know about this today because they are protesting,” said an official from the Kyaikmayaw Township Administration Office, who requested to remain anonymous.
Locals had already complained to the Union Ministry-level authorities on 29th November about the people intruding and living on the school land. According to the leaders of yesterday’s protests local parents had also staged a protest against the intrusion three years ago in front of the Moulmein District Court.
