Homes Convert Into Schools in Burma

ANCHOR:
Burmese elementary school students in the country's Irrawaddy delta should be concentrating on lessons by now...But first, they must find a classroom. In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, Burmese people still struggle to rebuild their lives.


STORY:
Without help from the Burmese authorities, village teachers have been left to try to resuscitate their school system. While a temporary school has not been built, students are scattered in teachers' houses holding smaller classes.

An elementary school teacher has converted her home into a classroom, where the students are cramped together. They are reciting passages from their text books amid blankets, furniture and utensils.

An aid group has donated some bamboo, but it's hardly enough to build a hut for the 60 students. They lost hundreds of text books, and the school roof and walls have been reduced to scrap metal.

[Daw Thin Thin Khaing, Elementary School Head Mistress]:
"We will build a temporary hut, and we can continue teaching there. If the students miss school this year, they will fall behind compared to students in other districts."

The children have been idle for weeks, helping with household chores while lessons have been stalled.

The Head Mistress has salvaged as many text books as she could when the cyclone struck.
Many of the recycled books have been washed away in the floods and she says it will be difficult to request replacements.

The children's parents are also chipping in. The mothers busily collect mud in baskets to help the fathers construct a temporary school. The spirit of community compensates for the lack of government aid in their recovery.

A Buddhist monk in Kaw Mu township says the lack of response by Burmese authorities is opening the eyes of ordinary Burmese.

[Ze Gha Ra, Buddist Monk]:
"From this experience, I think they learn that they have to depend on their own feet. They can't depend on the government."

Monks continue to play a crucial role in housing cyclone victims and distributing aid to villages.

Cyclone Nargis has destroyed four thousand schools and affected half a million students around the country.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ntd
• school
• burma
• education
• irrawaddy
• delta
• cyclone
• nargis
• disaster