Schools in Gwa Township, Arakan State, that were closed due to the country’s third wave of Covid-19 were reopened on November 30, according to the Gwa Township Education Department.

“All schools are reopened today. The head of the District Education Department instructed us to reopen schools,” said U Than Naing, deputy head of the Education Department in Gwa Township.

Schools across most of Myanmar were reopened on November 1, but schools from 46 townships, including Gwa, could not reopen at the time because Covid-19 infection rates in the affected townships remained elevated.

There are 140 schools in Gwa Township and 1,074 students were registered in the 2019-20 academic year, according to the township Education Department.

U Chan Myae Soe, the father of students in Gwa Township, said he was worried that students would not be able to absorb the curricula over the shortened academic term, with schools in Gwa at the disadvantage of an additional month of classes lost compared with schools that resumed on November 1.

“I am worried that students cannot get enough time to study a full curriculum,” he said.

The regime council has announced that exams for basic education and matriculation students will take place in March and April of next year.

A middle school teacher in Thandwe Township who requested anonymity said concerns about the shortened academic term were well-founded.  

“Students who have regularly studied during when schools were suspended will be able to sit exams in March and April. But it is not enough time for those who did not study during that time. I think students from primary and middle education cannot study a full course,” she said.

Schools opened for the start of the 2021-22 academic year in June, but they were shuttered on July 9. Most schools reopened on November 1 as Covid-19 infections declined.