Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery continues

Wed 09 Jul 2008, IMNA
The Ngwe Kyar Yan monastery continued its new academic year even after the Burmese military junta's bloody crackdown on monks who led the September 2007 demonstrations.

The monastery which hosted over 100 student monks last year is now starting its session with over 70 monks.

"The monks study freely like other monasteries. The monastery sees more and more crowds," a source close to the monastery said.

Ngwe Kyar Yan, in South Okklapa Township was where the military killed some monks during a crackdown at night.

A majority of monks were beaten up by Burmese Army troops and policemen. The whole temple was ransacked by troops.

Dozens of monk from the monastery were arrested and an ill abbot died during the raid on the monastery.

The abbot's assistant took over and the lessons continued smoothly. According to the State Sangga Nayaka Sayardaws, although the monasteries are conducting classes the number of students has dropped.

Because of the demonstrations, many monks did not dare to continue studying in the largest city Rangoon and moved to rural areas.

Some abbots also did not accept monks who were involved in the protests. The number of student monks also decreased in Pegu where thousands of monks joined last September's demonstrations.

Pegu, Rangoon and Mandalay divisions registered the highest number of monk students in the country with Pegu being on top. It has more than 240,000 monks according to the Sangga Nayaka list.