Schools shuttered in Minbya Twsp villages after fatal shelling

By DMG 18 Oct 2022

DMG Newsroom
18 October 2022, Minbya
 
Schools were closed in Arakan State’s Minbya Township after some locals including a primary school teacher were killed by junta artillery strikes in the township on Monday, according to residents.
 
Schools from at least four villages near Minbya town — Palaung Pyin, Singyi Pyin, Bu Pyin and Ngatan Pyin — were closed following Monday’s bombardment.
 
Almost all of the residents of Palaung Pyin Village, which has more than 400 households, fled following the junta shelling and a local school was also closed, according to a villager.
 
“Only a few people stayed behind to guard the village. More people fled today. Mostly they fled to the town [Minbya]. The basic education high school in our village was also closed,” said the villager.
 
Teachers in Singyi Pyin Village fled to Minbya town after the shelling, according to villagers.
 
“Most of the teachers here come from Minbya town,” said the father of a high school student in Singyi Pyin Village. “So, they come in the morning and return in the evening. All the teachers left the village after what happened yesterday. Some villagers have returned to the village after they fled yesterday. But teachers did not come today.”
 
A primary school teacher in Htaung Chaung Gyi Village was killed instantly by a mortar shell said to have been fired by the Myanmar military on Monday. The incident sent shockwaves through the community of teachers in Arakan State’s conflict zones, said a teacher from Minbya.
 
“What happened yesterday has frightened us a lot,” the teacher told DMG on Tuesday. “For the time being, teachers dare not go back there. Students have also fled the fighting, and schools have to be closed. Teachers are also concerned for their lives, like the villagers are.”
 
He added: “I dare not go even if we are pressured by higher-ups, amid instability.”
 
“They might have temporarily closed [schools] based on an understanding,” Arakan State education officer U Ba Htwe Sein said. “And they will reopen schools when stability is restored. If township education officers and authorities report to us that it is not safe to go to school in their areas, we will report to the Basic Education Department and seek its guidance.”
 
The Arakan Army (AA) carried out a mine attack on junta troops near the Nga/Tapyin Bridge in Minbya Township on Monday. Minbya-based junta battalions are accused of subsequently shelling the surrounding villages, in which two women from Palaung Pyin Village and the primary school teacher at Htaung Chaung Gyi were killed, and at least six others suffered injuries.
 
Other schools in Arakan State’s Rathedaung, Maungdaw, Buthidaung and Mrauk-U townships and in Paletwa Township, Chin State, have also previously been shuttered due to the ongoing conflict between the military and AA.