1jIl0Vh

PART III — COUNTRY PROFILeSLiberation Army, the Myanmar army destroyed schoolsas well as other properties when they shelled entirevillages. For instance, in early February 2010, 200soldiers attacked K’Dee Mu Der village and destroyed15 Karen homes, a middle school and a nurseryschool; 1129 in the same month, a high school andnursery school in Thi Baw Tha Kwee Lah village tractwere destroyed by Myanmar light infantrybattalions; 1130 and on 23 July 2010, government forcesshelled and then set alight 50 Karen homes, a schooland a church in Tha Dah Der, a predominantlyChristian village in northern Kayin state. 1131 In Kachinstate, several schools were hit by artillery, althoughthe intention was unclear. In August 2011, it wasreported that Myanmar military forces had laid minesclose to a school in Myitkyina township to prevent theKachin Independence Army (KIA) from using it. 1132Attacks on school students, teachers and othereducation personnelChildren have also been killed and injured in attacks.On 19 February 2010, Myanmar army soldiers innorthern Kayin state allegedly killed a 15-year-oldstudent and injured two others when they fired amortar into a camp for internally displaced persons,hitting a school during examinations. The KarenHuman Rights Group claimed the attack was deliberate.1133In Kachin state, between June 2011 and January 2013,at least two schools were targeted. Five children andone teacher were seriously injured when the Myanmararmy fired on their school in Mansi township in August2011. 1134 On 13 November 2011, 11 young students werekilled and 27 injured in a drive-by motorcycle bombattack on a boarding school in the state capital,Myitkyina. 1135Attacks on higher educationOn 21 May 2010, a prominent imprisoned Burmesestudent, Kyaw Ko Ko, was sentenced to an additionalfive years for ‘illegal association and subversion’because of a speech he had given to students in frontof Rangoon City Hall in 2007. Kyaw Ko Ko, who hassince been released and is acting as chairperson ofthe All Burma Federation of Student Unions, 1138 wasoriginally arrested for ‘possessing politically sensitivevideos’ and ‘trying to reorganize the students’union’. 1139Attacks on education in 2013Education in Myanmar faced a new and violent threatfrom Buddhist nationalists in central and easternregions in 2013, as schools and students wereattacked in outbursts of sectarian violence. On 17February, it was reported that around 300 Buddhistshad attacked an Islamic religious school in Thar-Kay-Tatownship, Rangoon, 1140 and later another Muslimschool was burned down in Lashio. 1141 During 20 to 21March, while armed security forces allegedly stood by,a mob of more than 200 Buddhists torched an Islamicschool in Meiktila and killed 32 Muslim students andfour teachers; many of them were clubbed, drenchedin petrol and burned alive, and one was decapitated,after trying to evade the attackers by hiding in bushesnearby . Seven Buddhists were later jailed inconnection with the school massacre. 1142One month later, in July, it was reported that 15students had been refused permission to attenduniversity in person because they had been absentthrough imprisonment for fighting for democracy. Theywere allowed only to resume their studies viadistance-learning courses. 1143Military use of schoolsMyanmar soldiers have occupied educationalpremises and forced teachers and students to work forthem, according to the Watchlist on Children andArmed Conflict. 1136 In May 2011, for example, the armyreportedly used village schools as barracks for twoweeks, causing some students not to return. 1137164