Maungdaw; Arakan State: Parents of student are anxious for high academic costs to get admission for their children, where the Burmese junta’s claim of providing free education from the primary to the high school-level in Northern Arakan, opening from June 1, said a school teacher from Maungdaw.

Hundreds of thousands of students are enrolling themselves in schools in Northern Arakan since last week of May, said students.

But, the administer of schools told the parents, children of arm forces personnel first, secondly township and village’s administers, thirdly government staff’s, fourthly the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) and Swan Arr Shin and fifth for local people will enroll step and step.

According to sources, school authorities also told the students’ parents to fill up the admission form per student which will cost 200 kyats and the enrollment fees are: for primary school 800 kyats, for class five 1500 kyats and will increase 100 kyats for more class level till 2000 kyats for class ten.

The authority doesn’t support for school text books which the students’ parents have to pay all the cost of text books. For KG class need 1500 kyats for books where 5000 kyats for class four, for class five 10,000 kyats  and 30,000kyats for class ten, the sources said.

In Northern Arakan, the Rohingya community are facing myriad persecutions -- political, social, religious and economic by the ruling junta, which compel the community for hard survival and difficult to pay all the cost of schools’ expenditure where the community has two or more students, said a father of four students, who is working as a hard labor at the market of Maungdaw.

In this year, the system of enrollment of school in Northern Arakan which will be reduce  students to 30 percent less than last year, said a teacher from Maungdaw.