Shan teachers were surprised to find their school destroyed after the Shan State Progress Party (SSPP) stayed there while the primary school remained closed since early March.

“We were going to tell them to vacate the school because classes were about to start again when we found that it had been destroyed along with the teaching materials,” a staff from the department of education, Tungyerng primary school , in Laikha Township told SHAN on condition of anonymity.

The teachers had hoped the school, which has 130 students from the Htong Yeim area, could open on 24 March, but instead found that the desks and chairs were broken and the school material was ruined.

The school had been run by the Shan Community College for the past five years.

Another man, who also asked that his name not be published, said the teachers and parents were making a list of all the damages to report to the authorities. He said the community had built the school for the education of their children and it shouldn’t have been destroyed by the armed group.

SSPP spokesperson Maj Sai Phone Han denied that his soldiers were responsible for the damage. “We used to donate money to build schools in Shan State. We didn’t destroy it. I think someone wanted to make our organisation look bad.”

The SSPP are fighting with the Restoration Council of Shan State in southern and northern Shan State.