11/1/22, 8:57 PM Myanmar’s military propaganda about schools rampant on social media · Global Voices that had been in place for more than 20 years by attempting to make educational systems more transparent and inclusive. 2.“Only military supporters value Buddhism and care about the nation” [https://airtable.com/shrJ0cYKBwPaS49Pk/tbl0mAI8W2guAWtTU/viwpDNiPamtQyrj9I/recxVUrSKgbp9A81R?blocks=hide] This is another narrative tied to Buddhism to justify the use of violence in schools against the political opposition. Ultranationalist Buddhism has always been the main core value of military supporters as they believe that the NLD and the civilian government have been destroying these values. [https://airtable.com/shrJ0cYKBwPaS49Pk/tbl9pe37bTmfb3dbq/viwQfFmkW7I6F9yTp/rec0v2eN6wlvqP3mh?blocks=bipPTI7evgB8np9lC] This Facebook post claims that the NLD-led government was trying to brainwash children by allegedly teaching that Islam was born in BC 2000 instead of seventh century AC. The author called it “slave education,” a term that has its roots in colonial times when independent groups criticized people partaking in English-oriented education as having a “slave mentality.” The author also claims that the civilian government wanted to put sex education in the curriculum to inculcate immoral values in children, instead of Buddhism and nationalism. Read the full analysis here [https://airtable.com/shrJ0cYKBwPaS49Pk/tbl9pe37bTmfb3dbq/viwQfFmkW7I6F9yTp/rec0v2eN6wlvqP3mh?blocks=bipPTI7evgB8np9lC] . Additionally, military supporters have artificially increased the number of students who have gone back to school, further enforcing the notion that the military will always save the day and that business continues as usual despite the attacks on school facilities. 3. “The military, not the NUG, has the support of the majority of the population [https://airtable.com/shrJ0cYKBwPaS49Pk/tbl0mAI8W2guAWtTU/viwpDNiPamtQyrj9I/recaABtrZDxL56p2b?blocks=hide] ” Faking numbers is not a new strategy in Myanmar. Ever since the previous dictatorship, military supporters have felt that they were the majority of the population, if not the “better group.” They use this narrative to underline the military’s justification for its coup: that it fixed an electoral fraud. They believe the NLD could not have received the majority of the votes back in 2020 when it won [https://www.irrawaddy.com/elections/official-results-show-another-election-landslide-myanmars-ruling-nld.html] with 82 percent of the votes. https://globalvoices.org/2022/07/07/myanmars-military-propaganda-about-schools-rampant-on-social-media/ 3/5