School Day 24: Burmese abroad

BBC: 29 November, 2006

Two schools for Burmese refugees - one in Thailand and one in India - are linking up to discuss how they are coping with life as refugees and struggling to have access to proper education in foreign lands.

ELT School in Delhi: India

The ELT School is an English language school for Burmese refugees in India. Thousands of Chins fled Burma and now live in India

The students are mainly ethnic Chin people who fled Burma. The Chin who came from north-west Burma, about 960km (600 miles) from Karen state.

There are many similarities between the Karen and the Chin: they both live in mountainous regions, they both have their own native language but are unable to teach them inside Burma, and they are both fighting the Burmese regime.

The main issues for both ethnic groups are language, education and re-settlement in third countries.

Chin separatist movements have been mounting guerrilla attacks for the past 20 years, mainly operating along the India-Burmese border.

But these areas have become less secure for the Chin as India and Burma have Coordinate military campaigns against separatist groups. Thousands of Chins fled to India and are now living in refugee camps there.

While they have some things in common, the Chins have little contact with the Karen inside Burma.

Neither has any reason to visit each other's homeland and the only meetings that would take place would be in the cities.

It is therefore unclear as to whether they would agree on the governance of any future democratic constitution or governance in Burma.