The whereabouts of the owner and teachers of a private school in Mandalay remain unknown since they were arrested and detained on Wednesday for allegedly joining the civil disobedience movement, following a raid on Golden Gate Private High School by junta forces.
The school in Maha Aungmyay Township employed about 15 teachers, sources said.
Golden Gate is the first private school to be raided and sealed off since junta personnel began investigating private schools in Mandalay on July 27 for links to the civil disobedience movement.
Signs of an impending purge emerged in the third week of July when pro-regime Telegram channels called for investigations of private schools in Mandalay to root out teachers from the public system who were on strike to protest the coup.
The regime alleged that the school is linked with and has supported the parallel National Unity Government (NUG), its parliamentary wing, the Committee Representing Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, and its armed wing, the People’s Defense Forces (PDFs).
All three are labeled terrorist organizations by the junta.
“General Administration Department officials, police and soldiers sealed off the school and office. I heard the school owner and teacher U Myat Kyaw and around 15 teachers were arrested,” a teacher in Mandalay said.
“We don’t know their whereabouts,” the source added.
Junta personnel began investigating private schools in Mandalay on July 27.
An official from Mandalay District said: “We received information that the school employs [striking] teachers, supplies PDFs, and runs online classrooms in cooperation with the NUG. We made surprise checks and found that the information was true. So, we sealed off the school, and filed a lawsuit against the [teachers] in line with law.”
Yangon, Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin are home to the majority of private schools in Myanmar. Mandalay Region reportedly has more than 240 private schools with about 140 being in the city.
Following the coup, the junta-controlled Education Ministry provided training for teachers at private schools, saying they must have relevant certificates to teach. Educators said the training was intended to bar striking teachers from the public system from working in private schools.
The regime has also required private schools to provide lists of their teachers and other staff along with their addresses to ensure striking teachers were not being employed at private schools.
Teachers working at NUG-linked schools have been arrested and jailed.
In March, the regime arrested Daw Ei Shwe Sin Myint, head of the Mandalay-based Federal School of Aung Myay Thar Zan in Aungmyaythazan Township, along with about 15 teachers aged between 20 and 40. A junta-controlled court in Mandalay handed her a 20-year prison sentence in July.
The regime also arrested two students, their father and two teachers at an NUG-linked online school on July 27.
“Last year, CDM health staff were targeted. Hospitals and clinics were raided and clinics were sealed off. This year, they are targeting online schools and private schools. CDM schoolteachers need to exercise caution,” a retired teacher said.
Teachers who joined the civil disobedience movement following the 2021 coup have opened schools for families that reject the junta’s education system. While most CDM schools are online, students can study at community schools in some areas of Sagaing Region and ethnic-minority states where resistance forces have replaced the junta administration.
