The military regime is causing alarm among parents by asking universities and private high schools for lists of their students.
Township administrations in Yangon, Mandalay, Naypyitaw, and elsewhere demanded in mid-December that private schools provide lists of all students over 15, answering detailed questions such as whether students wear glasses, are on long-term medication, or have physical disabilities.
A teacher at a private school in Mandalay’s Pyin Oo Lwin Township said their school had to provide student lists from grades 9 to 12. “It was the General Administration Department, not the Education Department, that asked for the student lists,” the teacher said.
The move has caused concern among parents as the regime has been snatching young men from streets, homes, and bus terminals in towns it controls.
“In my village, the administration office announced on loudspeakers that households with university and postgraduate students must report them,” a student’s father in Mandalay’s Patheingyi Township said. “It claimed it had been told to do so by the township’s General Administration Department because students are temporarily exempted from military service. But people are worried because the regime has also been snatching students off the streets.”
The conscription law from February last year requires all men between 18 and 35 to serve in the Myanmar military for at least two years. Temporary deferments are granted to students.
The regime said it is therefore checking if conscripted men are eligible for deferment.
“They said students would not be conscripted, but my nephew, who is a high school student, was listed for conscription,” a Yangon resident said. “We can’t afford the bribe to evade it, so he’s gone into hiding.”
A retired schoolteacher in Mandalay said: “Whether it’s a private or public school, only the Education Ministry has the authority to request student and teacher lists. The General Administration Department overstepped its authority by collecting student lists. People have reason to worry.”
The Irrawaddy’s calls to the junta’s conscription bodies went unanswered.
The regime said it would recruit 50,000 people a year. The Burma Affairs and Conflict Study Group (BACS) reported on Oct. 19 last year that over 20,000 people had been recruited in five batches since April, some forcibly while others paid for substitutes.
Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said conscripts who have completed military training would only be assigned security duties within their own townships, districts, or regions. But six batches of conscripts have been sent to conflict areas.
The regime is also asking for the names and addresses of teachers working in private schools in an apparent bid to find out if teachers from public schools who joined the civil disobedience movement after the 2021 coup are now working in the private sector.
