The military coups in Myanmar’s history have continually destroyed the dreams of the youths. On February 1, 2021, with the reasons for lying about the election results, the Myanmar military took over the country. The military arrested President U Win Myint including leader Daw Aung San Su Kyi and some of the National League for Democracy (NLD) electors. For this injustice action, thousands of people came to the road to revolt against the military and participated in the Spring Revolution. Then, a large number of government staff from different fields including students joined the Civil Disobedience Movement in protesting the actions of the Myanmar military. During the coup, the Myanmar dictatorship committed various kinds of violence such as arresting, killing, and seizing assets of the Myanmar people who were against its rules (Jurist Staff, 2023). According to Assistance Associaton Political Prisoners’ data published in 2023, there were 4162 people killed and 13639 people arrested by the Myanmar Military since the coup began in 2021 (AAPP, 2023). Because of the military coup, the plans to open schools and universities after the COVID-19 crisis were delayed for months, and students had to lag off their education. Also, the dreams of Myanmar students who were ready to fulfill before the coup were shut down and some students lost not only their dreams but also their lives resisting the Dictatorship during the coup. Moreover, the military destroyed the infrastructure of the school and reduced the access to educational opportunities for Myanmar students.
How were the dreams of Myanmar students before the coup?
Before the military Coup happened, each of the young people in Myanmar had a dedicated dream to fulfill till they reached their target mark but those dreams were smashed by the coup. According to the Jurist Staff interview series with Myanmar students, one of the students studying law major in her final year whose dream to be a judge after her graduation had been destroyed by the coup. Before the coup, she was spending her academic year to fulfill her dream of working as an assistant at a local firm. But she chose to stop her academic studies instead of learning under an unjust Myanmar Dictatorship (Jurist Staff, 2023). Similarly, a young girl who was a student from Yangon’s National Management Degree College was trying hard to apply her journalism dream before the coup. When the coup took place, she participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) instead of following the Dictatorship’s educational system (Nora, 2023). In addition, a final-year medical student had a dream to become a doctor who would like to contribute to society with his abilities. However, he chose to change his career rather than become a doctor under an unjust group’s regime (Nora, 2023). In this coup, young students who will have to apply their educational pathway along their dreams revolted against the Dictatorship letting go of their dreams, and participated in the CDM movement. Those kinds of young people, who were ready to achieve their future goals were interrupted to miss their educational pathway by the Myanmar military coup.
How Myanmar students had to sacrifice their lives and dreams
During the coup, young students who wanted justice and democracy in the country had to sacrifice not only their dreams but also their lives to resist the dictatorship. Among those students, one who participated in the Spring Revolution protests was killed by the military (Myo,2021). He had a dream to become a network engineer but he never could achieve his dream. Similarly, the next Engineering student who got the highest mark in University was shot during the protest not only his right arm but also his civil engineer dream. He said “In my imagination, I still think ‘my hand is there’. I think that I can curl up my fingers, but they’re not there anymore, Sometimes when I go to sleep at night I feel so sad: ‘Oh, my hand is gone” (Myo,2021, para. 11). The military devoured not only the dreams of Myanmar young students but also their lives. As the nature of young students hate unjust oppressions, Ko Phyo Wai Soe and his senior Ko Myat Thu who were Technological University students before the coup decided to resist the Military regime and joined military training in 2021 (Zan,2022). Those kinds of young students who will be in the classroom advocating their personal development skills had to arm the guns instead of the pens. A commander of Yaw Defense Force deputy, Ko Phyo Wai Soe sacrificed his life in “a front-line guerilla operation in Gangaw” fighting the dictatorship ( Zan, 2022, para. 1). Who could say if those young students were not demolished by the military coup, they would be the successful people in their lives. But the futures of young and brave students were broken in time to be unable to continue their dreams.
