AP-Myanmar Reopens Medical Schools

[tinkyi@xxxxxxx]

Tuesday January 5 1:48 PM ET

Myanmar Reopens Medical Schools

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - More than two years after closing universities
nationwide to quell student unrest, Myanmar's military government reopened
medical schools on Tuesday.

The move seemed to show increasing government confidence following a
crackdown on the opposition National League for Democracy, headed by Nobel
Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar's universities were shut down after students protested police
brutality in November 1996. The protests quickly took on a political hue,
and many students declared their support for Suu Kyi. She denied any role in
their movement.

A one-line statement issued by the government said three medical schools and
a dental school in the capital, Yangon, and the country's second largest
city, Mandalay, had been reopened.

Some 5,000 students also received private letters informing them that they
could resume classes.

The campuses were reopened only for students in their third through final
years of studies. It was unclear when the schools would accept new students.

Universities in Myanmar - also known as Burma - have traditionally been
centers for outspoken, even violent, opposition to the government.

There was speculation that the ruling State Peace and Development Council
was using the medical schools as a test to see if universities can gradually
be reopened without igniting new protests.

Universities also were closed in 1988 as part of the bloody suppression of
anti-military riots. In 1991, they were gradually reopened, starting with
the medical schools.