Internet Access Amid Darkness and Lives Amid Threats You’re not connected "Regard education in our country, you know, before the coup, students had returned to their native villages and some students had kept learning online when the coronavirus pandemic had erupted. … After the coup, the National Unity Government (NUG) organised online courses and programs and the youths attended to learn. However, this initiative could not forge ahead due to the lack of internet. I feel that I am now in North Korea." (A student from Yinmarbin) These aforementioned facts indicated that the myriad educational opportunities of youths in Myanmar were scattered as a consequence of the military coup which also brought the minors who have reached a certain age for education but no education access, to earlier labour, and premature marriage. A student who has joined the civil disobedience movement (CDM) in Khin-U township where the brutal military was launching an offensive at the time of writing this report, said in tears, "If I have to tell you about the impacts of internet blackout, education stops; now, children in urban areas can still learn but children in rural areas do not. My younger brother was supposed to learn in preschool. Now, he is 8. He has not attended any class yet. My younger sister who was supposed to study in Grade 9, has to work in the field now. Some girls in my village got married as well". Trade was halted and consumer prices skyrocketed, directly affected by the transportation conundrum in conflict-hit areas according to the residents. The brutal military's violent acts of torching innocent people's farms and lands, groundless killings of farmers, and bombings over their communities prohibited the residents who mostly relied on agriculture, from resuming their work. A Yinmabin resident said, "Prices increased after the internet shutdown, mainly because the trade transportation was hit. When internet access was available, truckers gained information about the location of battles and military blockage thus they could avoid. Now, they dare not to come here without internet access. Vice versa, the traders in the village no longer dare to go and buy in the city either. So, the price increases double. These days, they (the military troops) install checkpoints and make arbitrary vehicle checks on the roads. When they check, they order them to unload all goods then they don't help the drivers load the goods on the truck again after the check. Thus, the driver needs the helpers to load the goods again. Consequently, the drivers need to pay further wages, and finally, commodity prices skyrocketed". In terms of agricultural work in the areas, the interviewee added, "Our village manufactures or produces nothing but relies on the cultivation of fruit crops. We have finished sowing but no one dares to do anymore. Sometimes, we have to hide during plowing while aircraft fly over us. They shoot if they see crowds on the farms and near the edges of the forest. No one in the village can do business well". 17