[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

Burma reopens schools, but not all



Subject: Burma reopens schools, but not all universities (Reuters 08/12/97)

Burma reopens schools, but
                      not all universities

                      12 August 1997
                      Web posted at: 19:34 JST, Tokyo time (10:34 GMT)

                      RANGOON, Aug 12 (Reuter) - Burma reopened nearly
39,000
                      schools two months late on Tuesday, but kept closed
some 30
                      universities and colleges suspected of being linked
to student unrest.

                      Tuesday's reopening involved 38,808 schools and more
than seven
                      million children. The schools had been closed since
March and had
                      been due to reopen in June.

                      Rangoon-based analysts said the ruling State Law and
Order
                      Restoration Council (SLORC) was afraid of protests
before its
                      admission to the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN)
                      last month.

                      "They did not want to lose face until their smooth
entry into
                      ASEAN," one analyst said.

                      About 20 of the universities and colleges still
closed, including
                      cradles of last year's unrest Yangon (Rangoon)
University and
                      Yangon Institute of Technology, have been shut since
December
                      1996.

                      Students have been at the forefront of sporadic anti-
 government
                      protests since the abortive uprising of 1988.

                      The SLORC has declined to say when the universities
will be
                      reopened. An education ministry official contacted by
 Reuters on
                      Tuesday said: "The time for opening the universities
is getting closer
                      than before."

                      Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.