Ye, March 1, 2003 -- Students at No (2) Ye High School are forced to hand over Kyat 13,000 to repair a government school, local residents say.

According to local sources, a Burmese army commander ordered Ye Township Education Committee to collect cash from each student for the cost of repairing the school and other services.

The SPDC government ordered the middle level (junior high) school to develop to a high school level without government funds from the State Budget. Funds are collected by force as usual from throughout the community, U Thein Naing, a resident of Aung Mingala, Ye city, said.

According to locals, many poor families are unable to pay the amount sought by the education committee. In order to meet the demands by the army, they have to borrow money from others with a high interest rate to avoid their children from being punished by the school.

“We survive on a daily basic income and we simply cannot pay that amount of money, we feel despair when we cannot give our children the money when asked to do so. We worry that our children may not pass the examination when given,” said a single mother.

The Township Education Committee also intends to set up a Media lab at the school and will charge the students for the cost of implementing it. “There are over seven hundred students at the school, but the actual cost of building it far exceeds what the students can pay”, complained a community worker.

Ye is located in southern Mon State, the majority of the town population is of Mon nationality.