One Myanmar institute to reopen, ot

[moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]

One Myanmar institute to reopen, others soon 
10:10 p.m. Mar 07, 1998 Eastern 
YANGON, March 8 (Reuters) - At least one institute of higher education in
Myanmar (Burma) will reopen on Monday after being closed for more than a
year to prevent unrest, a government official said. 

``The Technical Institute in Thanlynn Township will reopen on Monday, 9th
March,'' a government spokesman told Reuters. He said there were about 1,000
students at the school. 

Most of the country's universities and colleges were closed in December 1996
after a series of anti-government protests. 

At the time, the military government said the universities and colleges
would be reopened when the situation normalised. 

Some 200,000 students were affected by the closures, and there are now
another 200,000 who have passed entrance exams but are waiting to begin
their higher education. 

In addition, some 400,000 high school students will complete a new round of
entrance exams on Monday. Those who pass will also be eligible for a
university place. 

The spokesman told Reuters that the government has decided to upgrade many
colleges to university status to cope with the overflow of students. 

``We are going to have classes overlapping because of the closure of
colleges and universities for a year,'' he said. ``In order to solve this
problem the colleges are being upgraded to university level so that they can
take in the double load.'' 

``The preparations I assume are almost over and in the very near future the
universities will reopen.'' 

The closure of the universities and colleges brought back memories of 1988
when the government shut down the higher education system for two years
following nationwide pro-democracy uprisings.