MON NATIONAL SCHOOL MOVED BY SPDC

(Kaowao, July 20, 2005)

Self-funded Mon National School in Lamine, southern Mon State will be forcefully moved and given a small compensation. 

A community leader of Lamine sub-town in Ye reported the SPDC will force the Mon National School Committee to move it to an outside site.  The committee built the school by donation from the town residents and migrant workers in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and other foreign countries. 

A senior monk from the school committee said the committee spent 20 million Kyat to construct the school but the authorities agreed to compensate only 15 hundreds thousands Kyat. 

Last year, the authorities had wanted the committee to move the school, but the committee instead challenged the authorities.  ‘A small compensation was offered, and the committee accepted it,’ a local woman said.

The self-funded private school is not under the administration of NMSP.  However, the local Mon community built it after the SPDC, at that time called SLORC, led by Khin Nyunt pledged to NMSP to allow the teaching of the Mon language in private schools.  ‘You can build your own school to teach the Mon language,’ the monk quoted Khin Nyunt as saying. 

‘Many Mon National schools in Mon State have been built since then. However, some were threatened and closed down by the Military Intelligence (MI) after two or three years,’ he added.  Hneh Padow village school (Mon National High School) in Mudone Township was ordered to stop teaching after a revered monk respected by the SPDC passed away, the monk explained. 

Most of Mon National Schools, which were built after the ceasefire between the two sides, are organized by senior Buddhist monks who have a strong influence in the community.  The monk said that they manage the school themselves, not with the cooperation of the NMSP, observing that there could be a problem in the future with the ceasefire agreement.  However, they rely on a curriculum designed by the NMSP.