Over 10,000 students could not sit for matriculation examination in Rakhine State

 Over eight thousand students sat for matriculation examinations under  the new system in Rakhine State, while more than ten thousand were absent due to arm conflicts in Rakhine state.

According to the military junta's Myanmar Alin newspaper, a total of 18,206 students of Rakhine State registered their names for the important examination. However, only 8,534 students sat for the 10^th standard examination under the 2023-2024 academic year, said the 12 March issue newspaper.

In 2022, 41,753 students sat for the said examination across Rakhine State. This time the number of participants reduced to almost one fifth of examinees.

A Sittwe resident  informed Narinjara News that  a small number of students from the urban areas sat for the examination. They were hardly 10 percent of the participating students from other townships like Rathedaung, Minbya, Kyauktaw, Mrauk-U and Pauktaw.

 "A year ago, both BEHS-4 and BEHS-2 were filled with students taking the examination. Now, it’s very low in number. No students arrived at the Myint Gar examination center of Pauktaw. The number of students coming from Pauktaw was very limited. Most of the rural students are now sitting the examination at Sittwe University," added the resident.

Every year, the matriculation examination is conducted in more than  120 centers of Rakhine State. This year, only  69 examination centers were used. In northern Rakhine localities, the examination is conducted in Sittwe only, whereas in the southern part, the examinations are being held in Taungup, Thandwe, Gwa, Munaung, Ann, and Kyaukphyu townships.

According to the military junta, a total of 146,523 students registered their names for the 2023-2024 academic year examination. Altogether 794 examination centers in 285 townships of  114 districts were readied for purpose, but only 128,801 students attended the examination.

In the 2022-23 academic year, nearly 160,000 students sat for the examination, but this year the number has decreased to  120,000 only.