Myanmar junta requiring earthquake-impacted students to retake exams

Students whose university entrance exam answers were destroyed at Mandalay University in last month’s earthquake will now be forced to sit for the test again in June based on a decision announced by the military regime on Tuesday. The 2024-25 matriculation exams were administered from March 17 to 22, with 220,843 registering and more than 200,000 ultimately taking the test. The catastrophic quake of March 28 toppled buildings on the university campus, causing fires that destroyed 376,956 matriculation exam answer sheets submitted by 62,954 Grade 12 students. An announcement that appeared in junta-controlled on April 22 said that surviving students whose answers were lost in the disaster—mostly from Kachin State, Mandalay Region, Sagaing Region, and Naypyitaw—are now scheduled to retake the exam between June 16 and 21. Unions representing the students and educators have taken a public stance against the junta’s proposed retake, while many of the students themselves are currently struggling to recover from the harm or losses caused by the earthquake, including property destruction, injuries, and the deaths of family members. Zaw*, a Grade 12 student from Mandalay, told Myanmar Now that it is impossible for people to study and retake exams when they are still reeling from trauma. “There will be students who have lost their homes and parents. For such students, it's impossible to study and remember information. They are badly traumatised,” he said. “At this time, everyone is distressed. Trying to study and focus on the upcoming exam only makes me anxious. I think people should have empathy. Retaking a major exam is extremely difficult.” Still images of the fire spreading at Mandalay University on March 28, posted on social media He questioned whether authorities had an adequate plan for addressing the situation of students incapable of retaking the exam in June. Other surviving students in central Myanmar confirmed that it was virtually impossible to focus on studies after losing family members or fleeing their homes, in many cases leaving behind notes and textbooks. Even if they are able to sit for the exam in June, they said, the short time provided to prepare will make it difficult to perform well. “Even now, both parents and students are suffering mentally. We’re facing highly stressful financial difficulties,” one student said. “As regards studying material, I’m a biology student with many facts to remember, and I begin to forget information if I can’t revise even for a day or two. Now it's been a long time, so how can I manage?” “I’ve worked hard the whole year. How can I be ready in just a month?” the student added. “Every G12 student knows how mentally and physically exhausting it is.” As of April 20, the junta has confirmed that the earthquake caused 3,735 deaths throughout the country and injured 5,108 people, with 120 people still reported missing. The disaster also damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings—including offices, housing, and religious sites like monasteries and places of worship—in Mandalay, Sagaing, and Bago Regions; Shan State; and Naypyitaw. According to All Burma Federation of Student Unions (ABFSU) representative Khin Ni, the military regime has concentrated more resources on restoring its faltering administrative apparatus than addressing survivors’ needs and losses, and is not taking responsibility for helping impacted students. “They are suffering from the earthquake just like everyone else,” Khin Ni told Myanmar Now, referring to students. “For them to simply order students to retake the exam is simply heaping onto the already heavy burden borne by students who worked hard and the broader community that supports them. This is a very unjust solution. We students must oppose this.” She added that students should not be responsible for the loss of their answers in the earthquake, and that the responsibility lay with the junta for storing and keeping them safe. She also noted that there was a precedent for all test-takers receiving automatic passing grades, when the answers for a government exam leaked in the “Harry Tang incident” of 1956, during Prime Minister U Nu’s administration, and that admissions could be based on criteria set by each university other than exam grades. Nonetheless, a retired senior official from the junta’s Ministry of Education noted that this would be the Myanmar that exam answer sheets had been destroyed by a natural disaster, making it uncertain what the students’ obligations would be. “The students are scattered, and they don’t even have their textbooks anymore. How can they retake an exam they've already completed?” he acknowledged, before adding, “There is no precedent for retaking exams in the past. This will simply be up to the [junta-controlled education] ministry’s decision.” Experts on education noted that there was a system in place to help disadvantaged students meet the minimum requirements in previous Grade 12 exams, and that the military’s proposed retake could impose an unfair burden on students already impacted by the disaster. “It's totally unreasonable to have to retake the Grade 12 exam in a situation caused by nature,” said Zaw. Criticism of the junta’s retake decision, largely from students’ parents, has even aired in junta-controlled media, and the People’s Pioneer Party—one of the parties allowed by a regime that has impeded the registration of effective opposition parties—has made public statements on the students’ behalf. Despite pressure from the public, the junta has fallen short in providing for the earthquake survivors’ needs, with most still lacking safe, adequate shelter nearly a month after the disaster struck. More than 4.3 million people in Myanmar are now in urgent need of clean water and assistance with sanitation, according to estimates released by the United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on April 18.*This source’s name was changed to protect his security A passerby looks at a damaged pagoda at the Inwa (Ava) historic site in Mandalay Region on April 3 (Photo: Myanmar Now)

Myanmar junta requiring earthquake-impacted students to retake exams

The regime has scheduled repeats of university matriculation exams between June 16 and 21 for students whose answer sheets were lost in the March earthquake, adding to the burden borne by students recovering from the disaster

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