WCRP

In Mon State, Ye township, the teachers from No (1) the Basic Education Middle School, often charged money from their students. Not only the students but also their parents are penniless and unable to give teachers money. Face with their own poverty, at the age of about 35 years old, one of the parents said –
"I am so disappointed with the teachers from the school. They always charge money fiendishly. This year is lucky for the people who have Rubber plants because Rubber is a very good price in this year. The people who haven’t got Rubber plants are in difficulty. But they still are demanding money from the children for the school’s festival. Ah, I don’t want my child to attend the school for the next year" she said with dignity.

Recently, the teachers charged the students (5000) Kyat for general expenses. Although some of the students haven’t paid yet, they are continuing to charge money for the festival. One 6 years old student from that school, in Grade 2 said---
"Our teacher said, tomorrow you have to give us 900 Kyat per student, for the festival 700 Kyat, donation for the monks 100 Kyat and the next one is donation for the nun 100 Kyat. The total is 900 Kyat "said the child.

Another student from that school, age 10 years old, in Grade 4 said --
"Before, I just could pay them 5000 Kyat for the general expenses. Now the teachers charge 900 Kyat for the festival on top of that I also want to dance in the festival but the teachers said , the people who want to dance in the festival, have to pay 15000 Kyat, so I must not dance, because my mum can’t give me all that money " said unhappily.

Of now, teachers charging money from the students is a convention of all schools in Ye township.

In the school, they have to pay money to buy accessories the school; there are the water pots, mugs, plates, brooms, vases, filtered water, flowers, and trashes etc. They have to buy snacks that the teachers sell. Even if snack sales are lacking the students have to buy them anyway.

This is happening, not only in No (1) the Basic Education Middle School but also in the other school in Ye township.

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September 3, 2010
WCRP, Kawkariet Township, Karen State, Burma: “During this year, the use and sale of Ya Ba [methamphetamine] among the teenage population of Kawkariet Township is increasing”, says a drug user from Kawkariet Township. September 3, 2010
WCRP, Kawkariet Township, Karen State, Burma: “During this year, the use and sale of Ya Ba [methamphetamine] among the teenage population of Kawkariet Township is increasing”, says a drug user from Kawkariet Township.
A Mon villager from Kawbein village, Kawkariet Township, explained that there has been a recent increase in the sale of drugs in his village, and it is now frequented by many students from elsewhere who know that they can purchase drugs there. “Even if they [the teenaged villagers and students] cannot buy drugs here [Kawbein village] on one day, they just go to Mawlamein, because they can buy them there instead. All the drug dealers have good relationships with each other and know where it is possible to buy drugs on any given day.”
“Ya Ba” [methamphetamine], from the Thai meaning “madness drug” are tablets containing a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine. Very popular since the 1980s in Thailand, they are less common there now following the Thai government’s crackdown on drug trafficking in 2003, but are still prevalent throughout South East Asia and pose a significant health problem. They are typically produced in the form of small pills and are easily transportable.
Use, sale and purchase of recreational drugs is illegal in Burma, although the laws go largely unenforced by the regime and Burma remains one of the world’s worst offenders for drug trafficking. According to one villager who used to use Ya Ba but no longer does, “Even though the government has made selling drugs illegal, they just put up signs around the town, and do nothing else to enforce the law.”
One tablet of Ya Ba [methamphetamine] in Burma costs around 5000 kyat (approximately US$5), which is a significant sum in a country where the average daily salary for a village farmer is between 1000 and 3000 kyat. “The drugs are very expensive, so it is mostly teenagers from rich families” said one villager from Kawbein Village.
The same problem can be found in Three Pagodas Pass, Karin State, claims a doctor who works in a clinic there: “Many men and children who live around here are using Ya Ba [methamphetamine] regularly.” Methamphetamines are highly addictive and dangerous. Prolonged usage can result in fatal kidney and lung disorders, brain damage, liver damage and psychosis, among numerous other physical and mental problems.
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WCRP: More children in Mon State are getting sick this year than last year and hospitals are struggling to keep up. The American Specialist Children’s Hospital in Mawlamyine was full in May. Since June, patients have been sharing beds and sleeping on the floor. The hospital, which mainly treats children from the Thanphyuzayart area, has two hundred and fifteen beds. Children are sleeping three to a bed and patients continue to arrive. “Even though the hospital has a lot of beds, there aren’t enough for my child and he has to sleep on the floor,” said one patient’s mother. “Last month there were over seven hundred patients in the children’s hospital. This month that number has increased to over one thousand,” said a nurse from the Children’s Hospital. Neighbors living near to the hospital have seen many new children arrive daily, but very few leave.

The nurse added, “During the months of June and July more than twenty children have died from influenza and other contagious diseases.” This month is expected to be worse for all patients, as influenza and other contagious diseases are spreading quickly among the children in the overcrowded hospital.

Patients who need blood transfusions told WCRP’s field reporter that the hospital’s supply of blood is very low and that blood had to be obtained from Mawlamyine Hospital.

It is not only patients in Mawlamyine that are suffering due to overcrowded hospitals. Myawaddy and Kawkareik Hospitals in Karen State have also reported that they do not have enough beds to keep up with the influx of patients. With illness expected to increase as the rainy season continues, there does not look to be an end to this problem in the near future.
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10 standard students required to pay 5000 kyat (4.95 USD) per month to attend an all night study program in Khaw-Zar sub-township, Mon State. The fee covers the costs of using the school after normal hours, petrol for the generator, and materials. Regular school hours are from 9am to 3pm and the compulsory program is from 6pm to 6am, Monday thru Friday. Students return home on the weekends and during break periods.

According to local sources, teachers from the Basic Education High School independently undertook the program two years ago in hopes of improving test scores. Last year only 3 of the 22, 10 standard students passed the March final exam, which helps determines future college placements.

Local sources told WCRP that last year, Khaw-zar Sub-township Peace and Development Council Chairman, Kyaw Moe, provided a couple rooms in the USDA office for the night study program. Additionally he supplied State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) soldiers, petrol for the building’s generator, and extra electricity. No support, financial or material, was provided for the program this year.

Financial support for this year’s program may have been withheld because last year some of the 10 standard students had problems with the patrolling SPDC soldiers.

Students reported that while they were sleeping soldiers threw stones through open windows and on one occasion entered their sleeping quarters. This year an ongoing rotation of 3 parents stay with the students during the night study program.

In neighboring Ye Town, 10 standard students from Basic Education High School 1 have the option of attending a night study program, but it is not required. “I only attended the program for one day … now I study at home. I think it is better [to study at home] because students were too talkative at the night study program,” said a student from Ye town.

As WCRP, Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA) and various other news organizations have reported, extended school hours, to help students prepare for 10 standard final exams, have been mandate in several areas throughout southern Burma.
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WCRP: During the first week of January, 2010, in Kroarad community, Mahachai, Thailand, three plain clothed Thai policemen unwarrantedly arrested a 50-year-old Mon woman for drug procession. The women explained to Labour Rights Promotion Network (LPN) field officer that she was preparing to go to work when three policemen knocked on her door and arrested her. The woman cannot speak or understand Thai and the officers did not speak Burmese or offer a description of her charges. She also stated that earlier in the day, on two separate occasions, she saw the same officers knocking on her neighbors’ door; which are well known throughout the community for drug distribution. At the time of her arrest the officers were not wearing uniforms.

From the police station the confused woman called her Thai literate son for help. Upon arrival an officer informed her son that his mother was being charged with selling marijuana and her bail was set at 50,000 baht (1,520 USD) and if not paid immediately they would put her in jail. The son returned home in efforts to raise the necessary funds, but without relatives or a support network in Mahachai he was unsuccessful.

“Please help me, don’t let me be alone. Why are they [Thai authorities] making me stay here? I don’t sell drugs; I have never seen any in my life. What ever they said I understand nothing and I was afraid of them.” The woman said, while in Thai custody, to the LPN field officer.

Three days after her arrest the police questioned her without a translator present and coerced her into signing a statement admitting that she was selling drugs. The woman is currently being held in Brohamin jail in Mahachai while she waits for a court hearing.

According to the LPN field officer, cases like this are very common, and LPN often handles incidences of Burmese migrant workers being wrongfully arrested by Thai authorities and then threatened with extortion or jail. LPN is a Thai NGO based in Praek sub-district, Muang district, Samut Sakhon province, Thailand, which focuses on protecting labor rights.

The woman, originally from Lamine Sub-Township, Ye Township, Mon State, migrated to Thailand one year ago. She had migrated to meet her son and escape a jobless market in Burma. During the night she legally works at a prawn factory and during the day her son works at Asia Sea Food Factory.
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