Arakan News Agency | Exclusive
Rohingya teachers in the city of Maungdaw, Arakan State, western Myanmar, have been prohibited from continuing to teach during the 2025/2026 academic year, despite the reopening of schools in their areas. There are pressures on local school committees to replace them with Rakhine ethnic teachers and to force these committees to pay their salaries.
Sources from local education committees told the “Arakan News Agency” that the Arakan Army is forcing the committees to pay a monthly salary of 500,000 Kyat for each Rakhine teacher, in addition to covering food and travel costs.
They added that the previous government used to cover the salaries and expenses of teachers, but the situation changed under the control of the Arakan Army, resulting in the financial burden falling on the Rohingya population.
The sources indicated that authorities notified them of sending 15 Rakhine teachers next week, with the condition that their salaries be fully covered by the residents. They confirmed that Rohingya teachers would not be allowed to return to teaching unless they pass a 45-day training course.
One parent explained that Rohingya teachers had already begun teaching in some schools, such as in the village of Harbi on June 7. However, on June 20, a group of Rakhine teachers arrived at the school, met with the school’s committee, and announced that Rohingya teachers were no longer allowed to teach and demanded their salaries.
Since the Arakan Army took control of the city of Maungdaw on December 8 the previous year, they have continued their violations against the Rohingya, including closing their homes based on malicious complaints, seizing them, confiscating their precious belongings, and displacing many families.
They have imposed strict restrictions on the Rohingya, where they prevent their movement between villages, after restricting it through a network of security checkpoints at the entrances and exits of each Rohingya village. They also imposed fees on pedestrians and motorcycle owners among the Rohingya in exchange for allowing them to cross bridges.
The Arakan Army launched a military campaign in November 2023 against the Myanmar military to take control of the state, successfully capturing 14 out of 17 towns. The conflict has engulfed the Rohingya, who have faced violence, forced displacement, and persecution from both sides. This comes after they were also subjected to a campaign of “genocide” by the Myanmar military in 2017, which forced nearly one million of them to flee to Bangladesh.
