SCMP - Burma Student protests strik

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South China Morning Post

Burma Student protests strike at heart of junta 

             WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok 
             The Burmese military must have
             suspected there would be trouble when
             it invited students at the country's most
             prestigious universities to come to
             Rangoon for crash courses.

             There was. Hundreds of students last
             week staged the biggest protests
             against the junta in nearly two years.

             Witnesses said the protests were
             targeted at the regime's education
             failures - for to criticise Burma's
             disastrous education policies is to
             strike at the heart of the military's sense
             of priorities.

             The demonstrators at the Rangoon
             Institute of Technology and, last month,
             the University of Rangoon, were
             carrying on a tradition of opposition
             that stretches back to the colonial era.

             The British failed to provide a proper
             education for the people - most
             Burmese learned to read and write at
             temple schools and private institutions.
             But the few high schools and
             universities did succeed in creating a
             highly articulate elite.

             Aung San Suu Kyi's father, the
             independence hero Aung San, started
             his political career as a student leader.
             But the post-independence army, lead
             by General Ne Win, never could
             stomach the idea that any organisation
             was beyond its control.

             After General Ne Win overthrew the
             last civilian government in 1962, he
             quickly turned his attention to dissent
             in the colleges.

             On July 7 that year students at Rangoon
             University demonstrated against new
             campus regulations. The response was
             ugly: massed army riflemen poured
             gunfire into unarmed students.

             In a final, deeply symbolic act of
             repression, the troops dynamited the
             student union building, the traditional
             home of student opposition since
             colonial days.

             Over the past decade, the junta has kept
             most colleges closed most of the time.

             "When the time comes to rebuild an
             economy that has been shattered by the
             military's incompetence, greed and
             control, it will be extraordinarily
             difficult," said one veteran foreign
             resident in Rangoon. "Most Burmese
             never get beyond primary school."

             Since student demonstrations turned
             into huge nationwide protests in 1988,
             the junta has been more afraid of
             opposition from the colleges than of
             wrecking the education system.

             The students protesting last week
             complained about plans to move much
             of their campus outside the city.

             They were also bitterly critical of the
             "crash courses" that, in a matter of
             days, are supposed to equip students
             with the ability to sit final exams.
             "These so-called refresher courses
             really reveal the authorities' contempt
             for education," a foreign education
             expert said.

             Teachers are made to attend special
             government courses for what one
             participant described as
             "brainwashing".

             When colleges are open, there are
             attempts to squeeze four-year bachelor
             of arts or science courses into four
             months..

             The military consumes about half the
             national budget, compared with the
             five per cent spent on education.