Parents of seven children are under tremendous pressure after they were forced to take their wards out of school because they could not afford the fees.

Though the school reopened just about a month ago school teachers collected money many times from the students in the name of repairing the school and payment for overtime teaching duty in Daye Phyu village near Thanpyuzayart town.

Unable to meet the demands of the school authorities, the parents of the children shifted them from the government school to the Mon National School run by the New Mon State Party (NMSP) which imparts free education.

"The parents have asked NMSP members in the area to provide protection if village authorities and school teachers mount more pressure," a source close to the family told IMNA.

The parents said they will not send their children back to the government school even under pressure, the source said. The children were attending Grade III and IV at the government school.

Though government policy in the approved constitution states that free education has to be provided in the primary level many school authorities in rural areas still collect money from the parents.

Recently the military government owned news paper the New Light of Myanmar reported that the Union Solidarity and Development Association donated money to schools for textbooks and school material.

But the money is not actually from the USDA. The money was collected from students, teachers, villagers, government departments and local businessmen to support children who could not afford to rejoin school, according to a school headmaster.