Junta arrest of teachers condemned

19 July 2022
Junta arrest of teachers condemned

The Basic Education Worker Unions - Steering Committee (BEWU-SC) and the Basic Education General Strike Committee-BEGSC jointly announced on 16 July that they will respond to the military regime’s arrest of teachers taking part in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) teaching at National Unity Government (NUG) schools.

The announcement also said that freedom of education is a basic human right and that people seeking alternative education or teaching at non-junta schools should not be hunted down by the junta.

On 13 July the founder of Kaung for You (K4U), a supplier of online education for students who do not want to attend junta schools, was arrested in Aung Pan Town, in southern Shan State. Other teachers working for K4U have also been arrested by the junta, which has been continuously targeting and arresting them.

The teachers working AT K4U joined the CDM where workers go on strike to protest against the junta in support of the revolution.

“CDM is a very important pillar of the Spring Revolution and most of the teachers working in K4U and the students [attending K4U] are in the CDM. The way teachers are being arrested is unacceptable. Based on the K4U issue, we are all responsible for making sure we overthrow the military regime. We are trying our best to fight against the Junta", said CDM teacher Naung Cho, of the Basic Education Worker Unions - Steering Committee (BEWU-SC).

The committees' announcement also said that the NUG will carefully review its policies to prevent similar incidents in the future and it also urged people to help teachers and students participating in the CDM movement, who are facing hostile attacks by junta troops.