In replacement, parents have been sending their children to schools run by anti-coup supporters or private institutions. However, it was discovered that the quality of education in Myanmar has deteriorated significantly since the coup started. “As many as seven out of ten teachers are boycotting and with limited teachers, the quality of education is badly affected” lamented Than Than Myint, a member of a parent-support group at a high school in Yangon. “These poor teachers are trusted in such roles without much training nor experience. No wonder morale is low and quality of education is poor,” she continues (DW). Program delivery within the education sector remains constrained even today due to the tense political environment and civil turmoil that doesn’t seem to abate anytime soon.
Moreover, many of such “alternative” schools are often targeted by the military junta. In the months between May 2021 and April 2022, there have been over 260 recorded attacks on schools with explosions in and around school compounds being common occurrences. There were also at least 33 recorded cases of arson with schools and education centres being set ablaze with teachers and staff regularly being mobbed (Children of the Mekong). Such attacks on infrastructure, teachers, and students have led to many of them being afraid to return and in some cases, no schools left to teach or attend.