Parents call for providing life jackets to Arakan State students taking boats to school

By DMG 27 May 2022

DMG Newsroom
27 May 2022, Sittwe 

Life jackets are needed for students in Arakan State who will soon be embarking on ferry boats to get to school, parents say. 

Schools are set to open in June, by which time Myanmar’s monsoon season will be in full swing. As rivers and creeks are abundant in Arakan State, water is a major means of transportation, and many children are sent to school by boats. 

Schoolchildren from Yahat Taung village in Ponnagyun Township have to attend the basic education high school in Poe Shwei Pyin village because there are no middle and high schools in their village, said a father, U Kyaw Thein Myint. 

“Middle school students are young, and people are concerned about their safety on the way. There are no life jackets on the boats, and parents can’t afford to buy life jackets for their children,” he told DMG. 

On June 1, 2016, seven schoolchildren from Yahat Taung and Gangar villages died when their ferry boat capsized on the way to school. 

Students from some displacement camps in Arakan State also must go to school by boat.  

“The boats are small and easy to capsize in the rainy season. So it is dangerous for students,” said Ko Naing Tun Win, manager of War Taung displacement camp in Kyauktaw. 

High school students from Taung Min Kalar village in Kyauktaw Township go to school in neighbouring Kan Sauk village by traversing Yoe Creek. 

“We have a middle school in our village. So, it is convenient for middle school students. But for high school students, they have to cross the creek to Kan Sauk. It is dangerous when there is heavy rain and strong winds,” said U Aung Kyaw Win from Taung Min Kalar village. 

An officer from Arakan State’s Education Department said the department would provide life jackets for free. 

“We are making a list of students who go to school by ferry boats. We have plans to supply life jackets to them. We already have life jackets in our hands,” said Dr. Tun Tun Thein, deputy director of the state’s Education Department. 

Fewer students are expected to go to school by boat this year as road transport has improved and because the regime has upgraded some primary schools into middle schools, and middle schools into high schools, meaning more students are able to attend class in their own villages.