Maungdaw, Arakan State: A prize awarding ceremony for matriculation students was held at the Sri Mingala Hall of Maungdaw town on August 22, said a school teacher in Maungdaw town.

The ceremony was organized by the Union Solidarity Development Party (USDP) for students passing the examinations held in March 2010. The matriculation results were announced on June 7.    

The programme was organized by USDP members, District Peace and Development Council (DPDC), Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC) and RDA (Regional Development Association), said a local leader.

There were 223 students, who passed out in 2010 matriculation exam from Maungdaw, among them 18 passed with distinction and received prizes and three students received distinction in four subjects (Two Arakanese Rohingya and one Arakanese Rakhine), four students got two distinctions and 11 students got one distinction.

The DPDC Chairman was the Chief Guest at the ceremony and the TPDC Chairman, USDP members and RDA members participated. About 1,500 students including parents and other local people took part, said a parent.

In the ceremony, U Htun Naing Lin, the TPDC Chairman encouraged the students to learn with keenness.

A parent said, “We want to our children to get more distinctions, but the education system in Burma is poor.”

One of the students, he said, “I and my parents are very happy to get a prize and it will encourage me to go for further education.”

Later, the DPDC chairman distributed prizes to the students who had excellent results. The student who got four distinctions got Kyat 200,000 in prizes, while those in two subjects got Kyat 100,000 and in one subject got Kyat 50,000.