The Arakan State Parliament has rejected a proposal to build hostels for schoolteachers working in rural areas despite their continued problems in finding proper accommodation near their workplaces.
The proposal was made by U Aung Win, the M.P. for Myaybon Constituency on 20th November.
He said: “I insisted on the proposal as teachers in rural areas are facing hardships getting comfortable accommodation nearby. If teachers can stay in rural areas the children in those areas will get a good quality education. Unfortunately, the social affairs minister U Aung Kyaw Min argued that the State government had no funds for the project.
U Aung Win said that teachers employed in rural schools have to stay in villagers’ houses, which can create problems for both the house owners and their guests. “It is a major problem for teachers working in rural areas,” he said.
Nwe, a female teacher from a village school in Pauktaw Township told Narinjara News that teachers there were facing difficulties due to the lack of suitable accommodation. She said that female teachers faced problems when they had to stay in villagers’ houses.
Another female teacher working in Kansick Village in Pauktaw Township who did not want to be named said that they found it difficult to use the same toilets and bathrooms as the house owners and that living in shared accommodation gave them little time to prepare their lessons.
U Aung Kyaw Min admitted to Narinjara News that the state government would like to build hostels for teachers in rural areas but they have no budget to do so.
He said: “The Union Government directly allocates the budget for the education and health sectors. At present we are rebuilding many schools because we believe that is more important than constructing hostels for teachers. That is why I urged him [U Aung Win] to withdraw his proposal.”
But, the state government has not completely rejected the idea of building hostels for rural teachers. After it has repaired the schools it will use materials left over and recovered from the repairs to build hostels. Villagers will also be allowed to contribute to the scheme.
The Arakan government received an extra allocation of 15 billion kyats on top of its normal budget this year. A lot of that money is currently being spent on the construction of roads, bridges, ponds and wells.
Edited for BNI by Mark Inkey
