By Ko Myo/MPA
Myanmar’s military regime has dismissed more than 125,000 teachers and killed at least 37 educators since seizing power, according to figures released by the shadow National Unity Government (NUG).
Nay Phone Latt, a spokesperson for the NUG Prime Minister’s Office, stated on Tuesday that the education sector has been severely targeted over the past five years.
Between the coup in February 2021 and January 2026, the NUG claims that in addition to the mass dismissals, approximately 500 teachers were arrested. Of those, 396 remain in detention.
The report also detailed physical attacks on educational infrastructure. Citing recent surveys, the spokesperson said that throughout 2023 and 2024, the military conducted 217 attacks on schools using airstrikes and heavy weaponry.
Furthermore, there were 141 recorded instances of troops occupying schools for military operations, a practice that rights groups say endangers children and violates international law.
The release of these figures comes days after the military junta announced a new initiative on January 31, offering to remove striking civil servants—known as the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)—from blacklists and inviting them to return to work.
However, the offer has been met with skepticism.
“As far as I know, not a single CDM staff member here in Mae Sot has gone back,” a teacher from Yangon, currently sheltering in the Thai border town, told the MPA. “There is zero trust in the military.”
The NUG has urged the international community to move beyond observation and provide concrete support. The shadow government called for cooperation with resistance forces to implement air defense measures and protect children, asserting that the military’s targeting of schools constitutes a war crime.
