Young activists open free elementary school

Monday, 17 January 2011 19:55 Aung Myat Soe

Bangkok (Mizzima) – Young National League for Democracy activists have opened a free elementary school in Hlaing Tharyar Township, a poor area in Rangoon Division.

The school, named ‘Mom’s Home’, is located on Maykha Street in Ward 13, in Hlaing Tharyar, in a compound owned by a memer of the National League for Democracy (NLD).

NLD chairman Tin Oo, a central executive committee member, along with fellow members Win Tin and Phyu Phyu Thin, attended the opening ceremony on Monday.

‘The school has been opened for poor children and any child who cannot read and write well in Hlaing Tharyar Township’, school organiser Phyo Min Thein, a former chairman of the United Democratic Party, told Mizzima.

‘Today, more than 100 students in the area registered for classes. Not only poor children but also children who can attend government primary schools’, he said.

NLD members have volunteered to teach the students in accordance with the national curriculum on subjects including the Burmese language, English and mathematics.

The school will offer morning and evening classes. Students who have to attend government schools in the evening can attend the morning class, which starts at 9 a.m. The school’s evening class is intended for students who attend government schools in morning.

The school will open preparatory classes for 10th grade students when their exams are near and also provide special English language classes during the summer holidays, according to Phyo Min Thein.

Explaining the motivation behind opening the school, Phyo Min Thein said, ‘Aung San Suu Kyi told us to work for people in need’.

Most people in Hlaing Tharyar, located across the Hlaing River from downtown Rangoon, are poor and many children in the area do not attend school.