Myanmar’s rivals compete to win over young hearts and minds

Both sides in Myanmar’s civil war are trying to win over young people, offering opportunities in education to the third of the population who have faced disruption and disappointment since a 2021 military coup triggered bloody turmoil.

Myanmar society, strictly regimented over decades of military rule, went through an unprecedented opening up from 2011, with young people, especially in towns and cities, plugging into the world via social media as civilian politicians looked to a more prosperous, stable future.

But the coup shattered those hopes and young people were at the forefront of nationwide protests against the military takeover that the army crushed.

Now the junta, struggling with an economy in crisis, is trying to win back the disaffected youth, promising eight new universities across the country to “nurture science and technological human resources,” state-run media reported this week.

“It is necessary to organize youths to play a crucial role in digital transformation and meeting the sustainable development goals,” the junta leader, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, told an event marking International Youth Day on Aug. 12.

Myanmar possesses “a massive workable force of youths” who make up 33% of the population, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Min Aung Hlaing as saying.

The new polytechnic universities, to open through 2024 and 2025, would encourage research, “beefing up science, technology and innovation,” as well as “nurturing science and technological human resources,” the newspaper added.

University students across the country boycotted classes after the coup as part of their protest against military rule. The junta later reopened at least 250 universities and training colleges but those institutions had lost 90% of their students by early this year, according to statistics from the junta’s education department.

With their dreams shattered, and a military regime looking to draft young people into its embattled army, many young people have left the country to places like Thailand, hoping to find work or continue their education.

The junta has responded to the exodus with travel restrictions, preventing young people from leaving by air and creating new bureaucratic hurdles for prospective overseas workers and students.  

‘Nourish the skills’

Myanmar’s civilian shadow National Unity Government, or NUG, which opposes the junta, says it sees education as key to ending military rule once and for all and fulfilling the dream of a democratic Myanmar.

The NUG said on Wednesday it had opened 21 online and in-person universities, in addition to an existing 16 educational institutions it already supported, attracting more than 20,000 students.

“The purpose of vocational education is to contribute to the future federal, democratic Myanmar where we would work to nourish the skills of the public,” the NUG’s deputy minister of education, Sai Khaing Myo Tun, told an online press conference. 

Colleges have been opened in areas under the control of anti-junta insurgent forces, offering degrees in the social sciences, political science, teacher education, arts and sciences degrees, he said.

“Educational access for many students has been improved.”

Editing by Taejun Kang