The junta has launched three-month military training courses for teachers and students at Mawlamyine University in Mawlamyine Township, Mon State, according to junta-controlled newspapers.
How many would receive training was not specified, but the training began on 11 January 2025 and is being conducted by University Training Depot 3 under the Directorate of Militia and Border Guard Forces of the Office of the Chief of Staff (Army).
Under the junta’s conscription law, enrolled students of conscription age can defer their military service so, if the junta follows the law, students who received military training should not be conscripted before they finish their university studies.
The junta also said that if students who had volunteered for military training were conscripted art any time after finishing university they would not have to serve as long as normal conscripts. But, it did not say whether such students would be conscripted as soon as they leave university.
Military training for university is not new. Previously, before the coup university students could volunteer to join the University Training Corps (UTC) where they would receive military training and any students who take up the current military training being offered will also become UTC members, but the military training they now receive will be more advanced and extensive.
But, members of the anti-junta Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) have raised concerns that now, at a time when conscription is being enforced, students who have received military training will be in danger of being conscripted into the army immediately after they leave university, or even possibly whilst still at university.
A CDM teacher said to Than Lwin Times: “Under the conscription law, students who are still in university can apply for a deferral from military service. But now, the junta can attract students through university committees that support it [the junta], to enrol them in military training. This means students who are still in university will no longer be completely isolated from the threat of conscription.”
The junta has tried to justify its decision to now offer more advanced military training by saying that it aims to improve their understanding of national defence and offer valuable training to help them carry out future national duties.
Military training in universities was implemented after the junta promulgated amendments to the conscription law on 23 January 2025.
The junta announced that university military training courses will take place at the universities in Naypyidaw, the capital, as well as in Taunggyi City in Shan State; Mawlamyine City in Mon State; Pathein City in Ayeyarwady Region; Taungoo Town in Bago Region; and Kamayut Township in Yangon Region.
In Mon State, the junta is conducting its ninth round of conscription.
