When Conflict Reaches the Classroom: Education in Myanmar Since the Military Coup

Myanmar is now ranked among the highest conflict intensity countries in the world according to the ACLED Conflict Index. https://acleddata.com/series/acled-conflict-index
That is not just a number.
That is daily fear.
That is airstrikes.
That is villages burned.
That is lives interrupted again and again.
Every time I see news about an airstrike…
a village shelled…
a child killed…
I feel the same mix of emotions.
Sadness.
Anger.
And one question keeps coming back to me.
What about Myanmar's education for Myanmar's youth?
So I stopped scrolling.
I opened my GIS software.
And I decided to look at the data.
I mapped the locations of schools across Myanmar.
Then I mapped conflict events recorded by ACLED including battles, air and drone strikes, shelling, remote explosives, and violence against civilians.
I created a 4 km conflict impact area around these events.
What I found broke my heart.
Fifty eight percent of schools in Myanmar are located inside conflict impact areas.
More than half of our schools.
Places where children should be learning.
Places where futures should be growing.
Now surrounded by fear, displacement, and violence.
This is not just about buildings.
This is about children who cannot focus.
Teachers who cannot stay.
Parents who are afraid to send their kids to school.
When conflict spreads, education is one of the first things to collapse.
And when education collapses, the future collapses with it.
Myanmar is not just experiencing conflict.
Myanmar is losing classrooms.
Losing safety.
Losing hope.
This map is not just data.
It is a reminder of what is being taken from an entire generation.