The regime arrested two members of a youth organisation in the town of Tedim after they used a loudspeaker to broadcast a warning from the Zoland People’s Defence Force related to education staff who haven’t joined the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).
“The Shalom Youth Committee is just a social team and sometimes they announce things related to civil affairs in Tedim… I think they shared a warning by the PDF about opening a school,” said an anonymous man.
On Monday, Inn Khat Moong and Liang Sheng Hmong were arrested by Burma Army (BA) soldiers and taken to Tedim Myoma police station jail.
A couple of days earlier, the PDF, which is fighting with the BA, had issued a statement saying it was concerned about education staff, parents and religious leaders who weren’t participating in the CDM.
An anonymous PDF officer said: “Our message was that the military regime’s education system isn’t really focused on the children’s development.” Very few kids actually attend school, he explained, so the junta might try to instigate something to blame the the PDF.
“That’s why we put out a warning message before anything happens. If there’s violence in the school, it’s not our fault and we’d never hurt our people.”
Since June, the regime has been trying to reopen schools across the country, which have been closed since teachers and students refused to attend them until the military returned power to the democratic government.
In Chin State, only a few schools have reopened and in Tedim, two high schools have reopened, but only 40 students are enrolled in classes.