With little more than two weeks before the start of the new academic year schools in internally displaced person (IDP) camps near the Burma-China border face a serious staffing shortfall. The schools—which are located in territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO)—are short by over 100 teachers and won’t be able to open without enough staff, according to the KIO’s IDP and Refugee Relief Committee (IRRC).
IRRC leader Labang Doi Pyi Sa said that volunteers are needed at ten middle schools located in the following IDP camps: Bum Tsit Pa, Lana Zup, Pa Kahtawng, N’Hkawng Pa, Hpun Lum Yang, Je Yang, Maga Yang, Zai Awng (aka Mungga Zup), Boundary No. 6 (located below Kambaiti), and Boundary No. 8 (located below Kambaiti). Teachers are also needed at Laiza’s high school as well as three primary schools in Dumbung Krung, Laiza, and Hpre (Pangwa area).
Doi Pyi Sa told the Kachin News Group that the IRRC has reached out to church groups asking for volunteer teachers from any religious denomination. The volunteer teachers will be given a short teacher training course in Laiza before they start working at their respective schools, he said. The volunteers should arrive in Laiza for training by May 20, he added.
KIO-run schools used the same curriculum taught in Burmese government schools during the 17-year ceasefire between the KIO and Burma’s government, but the curriculum changed somewhat after renewed armed conflict broke out in Kachin State in 2011, and more classes are now being taught in the Kachin language.
Volunteer teachers from across the country and around the world are encouraged to contact the IRRC if they are interested in teaching at the IDP schools. The IRRC can be reached via e-mail ([email protected] or [email protected]) or by calling +86(0)13628890955 or +86(0)15388825948.
