With conditions in the public school system deteriorating, Burma?s generals opt to send their children elsewhere... In military-ruled Burma, school bells ring only if politics permit. After the May 30 crackdown on Burma?s opposition and the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, schools across Burma closed their doors to stop dissent brewing in the schoolyard and spilling out into the streets. This is all too familiar to Hlaing Win, who attends a state-run high school in Rangoon. He knows that if he wants an uninterrupted education, he needs to go to a private school. "If I was a student at a private school it wouldn?t matter what the authorities were doing. They couldn?t close the school," said Hlaing Win, 16. Because of their place outside the state system, private schools are buffered from politically related closures by military authorities. Hlaing Win dreams of going to a private school like the International Language and Business Center (ILBC) in Rangoon. "I?m really interested in that school because I know I would get a normal education that is guaranteed in a foreign country," Hlaing Win said. Many of the top private schools in Rangoon offer internationally recognized school certificates and English language instruction. But their high fees mean that only a tiny portion of Burma?s seven million school-aged students can afford to go. Admission to Rangoon?s top schools does not depend upon a tough entrance exam or good grades. What students need is money, and lots of it. At the ILBC, fees start at around 1.1 million kyat (US $1,160) per year for kindergarten students and rise as students move to higher grades..."