The junta is going back to school.
It started training professors and students from four universities in Pathein, the capital of Ayeyarwady Region, to be used as auxiliary forces this week.
In total, 116 professors and students from three universities and a college – Pathein University, Technological University, Computer University, and Education College – attended the first day of military training at Pathein University.
It is the first military training session for professors and students in Ayeyarwady Region, the information team for resistance group Pathein Special Taskforce told The Irrawaddy.
It said it will take 15 to 45 days to complete the training.
Pro-military Telegram channels say they are attending the course voluntarily, but Pathein Special Taskforce said this was false. The professors and students do not want military training, it said.
The Irrawaddy has contacted students and teachers from the universities and college, but they have yet to reply.
The military has been trying to rebuild its depleted ground force after suffering major defeats against resistance forces since late last year. It lost major towns and bases across the country after joint resistance forces launched major offensives in northern Shan, Rakhine, Karenni (Kayah) and Chin states.
“To rebuild its forces and prevent the Spring Revolution from succeeding, the regime is now giving military training to university teachers and students, but it won’t succeed,” political analyst U Than Soe Naing said.
He said the move will backfire.
“In a situation where the entire population is disillusioned with the military, no matter how much training is given to recruits, it will not strengthen the military. The recruits will switch to the people’s side,” U Than Soe Naing explained.
People have been protesting against the coup since it happened three years ago. They first staged protests, but when junta troops brutally cracked down on the peaceful protesters, youths took up arms and fled to forests and jungles to fight the junta.
At the same time, soldiers, police officers and civil servants joined the civil disobedience movement.
The regime has been sustaining heavy casualties amid growing resistance not only from battle-hardened ethnic armed groups but from a new widespread armed movement launched by young civilians.
Weakened by troop shortages and a wave of defeats, the junta began forcibly recruiting civilians in the middle of last month. Some fled their homes and slept in fields to avoid recruitment.
The regime has also been recruiting, training and arming pro-military militia groups, widely known as Pyu Saw Htee, to bolster its manpower.
In December 2021, the military junta began providing military training to the children of soldiers. Young teens were reportedly taught discipline, how to march and how to handle small arms and light weapons.
In January 2022, wives of its mid-ranking officers were forced to undergo military training.
The two-week course covered the use of small arms and some heavy weapons, as well as basic military tactics.
But armed children and wives have not helped.
“Thousands of junta soldiers surrendered and hundreds fled to neighboring countries,” U Than Soe Naing noted. “The junta is facing defeat.”
