Ko Khin Maung Win, the secretary of the union, told Narinjara that the union of Arakanese students was provisionally formed with 30 students from Sittwe University, Computer University and other colleges in Sittwe.

“We initiated forming an organizing committee on the 27th of August, then we founded the Arakan University Student Union (interim) with the participation of students from Sittwe University, Computer University and the Technical University on the 31st of August”, said Ko Khin Maung Win.

There are around 10,000 universities and college level students studying in Arakan state, most are in Sittwe, the state capital of Arakan.

During the formation of the student union, some objectives were adopted to ensure the union would work for the benefit of students.

The main aims of the union are to strive for breeding a new generation of Arakanese students who can compete with international university students, to help solve the problems and difficulties currently being faced by the students in Arakan State, to raise awareness among students for preserving their own national and cultural heritages and to strive for the emergence of an educational system that can guarantee the future of the students, he said.

Ko Khin Maung Win said that the union will also work for student rights in league with other student unions in all Burma.

He added that the union is now trying to become an officially recognized union that will represent all the students in Arakan State in the future though it is now simply an interim one representing a few university students studying in Sittwe.

It is learned that university students across Burma have formed unions in their respective universities and institutes after restrictions on unions were relaxed by the present government. In the past, the government restricted and prohibited student unions through severe actions.