Myanmar president seeks cooperation to amend education law

Myanmar, February 2: Myanmar President U Thein Sein Sunday appealed to protesting students for cooperation to fulfil their demand for amending an already approved national education law.

Stating that dialogue was the only practical way to find a solution, U Thein Sein urged students to stop their protest march and pave the way for discussions, Xinhua reported.

He expressed concern stating that if the students continued to stage demonstrations, it could affect the approaching school exams. Following initial talks between Myanmar government delegation and protesting students' representatives in the capital Nay Pyi Taw Jan 28, the two sides agreed to hold quartet talks on amending the parliament-approved National Education Law.

The quartet talks, to be held later Sunday, will focus on 11 points raised by student representatives. Students agreed to suspend their protest when the quartet talks starts.

On Jan 21, hundreds of students started a protest march from Mandalay city to Yangon (about 640 km). But the police stopped them in Taungtha town (about 130 km from Mandalay) Jan 27.

Mymnmar students have been staging demonstrations since September 2014 against the national education bill passed by the parliament in July that year. The protest later spread from Dagon University in Yangon region to other universities in Mandalay and Sagaing regions.

Meanwhile, the education ministry has said it would submit a bill to the ongoing parliament session, seeking amendments to the National Education Law.

IANS