Students who participated in the anti-coup protest in a village of Demawso Township in Kayah State said they strongly protest against the military coup which has plunged the education system to rock bottom.

Thousands of people participated in the protest in Phaehlyar village in Demawso Township on May 4th.

At the beginning of the coup, the junta claimed the standard of education would be introduced. We don’t to return to the former education system,” said a student.

A teacher who participated in the protest said: “Due to the coup, the future of youth has disappeared, and the country will be stunted in its development. I dare to say that if the coup can bring about development, and most of the past 60 years will have been under military rule, then we should be able to see much more development than Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Cambodia since the military coup in 1962.

Anti-coup protests have been taking place in Demawso Township for 90 days since the Feb 1 coup. The public, civil servants and students are participating in the protests.

The junta plans to reopen basic education schools in the coming June and is putting pressure on education staff who have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) and students to come back to the schools and cooperate with the junta- run the educational system.