Local people in western Chin state have alleged there is religious discrimination in nine schools, operating in the ethnic border areas set up for development since 2003.
For example, there are eight teachers in a border area school in Thantlang town. Four are Burmese, three are Chins and one is from the Yaw tribe. Of those, only two are Christians and the rest are Buddhists. All the students, totaling 40, are also Buddhists.
“Half the students are Burmese and the rest are from Chin groups in Mintat and Kanpalet townships,” said a teacher. There is no space for local Christian children.
Similarly, the majority of teachers and students in other border area ethnic development schools are Buddhists.
In the last state assembly session between November 8 and 9, some parliamentarians had asked whether religious discrimination existed in border area development schools in Chin state. They requested the appointment of teachers in those schools be based on a ratio that avoided religious favoritism.
The government’s policy in these border area ethnic development schools is supposed to be against discrimination either through ethnicity or belief.
Most Chin people are Christian and the rest are Buddhists and animists.
