Junta arrests principal of private high school in Sagaing
The school was also shuttered, with the junta posting a sign on the building suggesting that it had ties to ‘terrorist organisations’
The military arrested the 57-year-old principal of a private school in Sagaing town last week and shut down the institution the following day, Myanmar Now has learned.
Htar Htar Oo was taken into junta custody on September 21. The next day junta personnel posted a sign on the entrance of the Yinthway Yadanar private high school in Thazi ward, alleging that it had had ties to organisations designated by the military council as terrorist groups.
Children were reportedly attending classes at the school at the time it was sealed off.
At the time of reporting, no official information had been released about Htar Htar’s Oo’s detention and the shuttering of her school, nor is it known under what legal statute she is being detained. However, pro-junta Telegram channels and social media pages claimed that evidence had been found that the principal had also taught at the Sagaing Federal School, which is run by the publicly mandated National Unity Government.
A source close to Htar Htar Oo’s family denied these allegations.
The individual described the principal as “a very generous and loving person to both the children and the staff members at her school.”
A Sagaing local said that several family members were also arrested alongside the principal, including her adult children and daughter-in-law, but were released the following morning while Htar Htar Oo continued to be held.
In August, the junta also sealed off the Golden Gate private high school in downtown Mandalay and arrested the school’s founder and management team.
The military has detained thousands of people nationwide suspected of having connections to the armed anti-junta resistance groups that formed following the February 2021 coup, filing criminal charges against them and often seizing their homes and businesses.
According to the monitoring group Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, at least 19,620 people were in military custody at the time of reporting.
