Myanmar junta ‘bombing schools’, with 170 sites hit in past three years – report

Airstrikes, arson, shelling and ground fighting between the military and armed rebel groups have damaged at least 174 schools and universities in Myanmar since a military coup in 2021, according to a new report.

Open source investigator, the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR), said analysis of imagery from conflict zones showed burned and collapsed buildings.

The group said it had documented 64 deaths and 106 injuries from the attacks, although it was difficult to verify the full extent of casualties because of a lack of access to the sites.

The country was plunged into conflict after Myanmar’s military seized power three years ago, ousting the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and sparking armed resistance and protest across the country. According to Action on Armed Violence, a charity that investigates violence against civilians, at least 50,000 people have been killed.

Matt Lawrence, director of CIR’s Myanmar Witness project, said that in more than half of attacks it assessed, education centres had been destroyed or significantly damaged, which would have a lasting impact on youngsters living in these areas.

He said the destruction of schools would harm a generation growing up during the conflict without access to education, which he said was important to produce reasonable, progressive leaders.

“What worries me is, as this conflict goes on – and it’s likely to go on for a long time – the conflict will be inherited by that generation and instead of being informed by the reason and hope they get through the education system, they’re instead going to be informed by the factionalism and war they’ve grown up with,” said Lawrence.

CIR, which published its findings on Saturday, used reports and imagery uploaded on social media or directly sent to it, as well as drone footage from the grassroots people’s defence forces, which have emerged since 2021 to fight the junta.

Lawrence said that wherever there was intense fighting, schools would be damaged. Some of the worst destruction is in Sagaing region, where fighting has been fierce.

He said while it was not always possible to identify who was responsible for the damage, only the Myanmar military had access to the aircraft used for airstrikes.

“The junta’s key weapon in this conflict is airstrikes. They’re bombing villages, bombing schools. But they also use fire and burn down villages and schools,” he said.

“Both sides will say the schools they attacked were being used for a military purpose at the time. That’s often the excuse given for attacking these areas that should be protected, but often that is the only infrastructure for a community to teach its children … the removal of that place removes the opportunity for them to be educated.”

The report was released before Sunday’s meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

Commenting on the analysis, the UK Foreign Office said: “Schools are meant to be a place of safety and opportunity, not collateral in a conflict. Asean is critical to finding a path to peace in Myanmar. We again reiterate our call to all parties, particularly the Myanmar military, to refrain from airstrikes, safeguard civilians, and protect civilian infrastructure.”

ref: www.theguardian.com