Khumi Chin Community Opposes AA’s Arakan Language Curriculum in Paletwa

Indigenous Khumi Chin leaders and civil society groups have strongly opposed the Arakan Army’s (AA) implementation of an Arakan-language curriculum in basic education schools across Chin State’s Paletwa Township, calling the move a violation of indigenous rights. The controversy arose after the AA and its political wing, the United League of Arakan (ULA), introduced Arakanese literature and history as a mandatory Grade 12 subject for the current academic year—replacing the standard Myanmar language subject not only in controlled areas of Arakan (Rakhine) State, but also in neighboring Paletwa. In a statement issued on September 6, the Global Khumi Organization (GKO) condemned the policy, stating that imposing an external ethnic curriculum without local consent violates the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and risks sowing deep communal divisions. "Bringing a new Arakan-language curriculum into Paletwa, which is an integral part of Chin State, is seen as an attempt to exert dominant ethnic influence," a local Khumi resident told Chin World. "People are only remaining quiet because those issuing the orders are armed." Developed by the ULA’s Arakan National Education Department, the new Grade 12 curriculum uses the Myanmar alphabet to teach Arakanese literature, history, and traditional customs. While Khumi literature is already taught in predominantly Khumi areas, local communities view the AA's unilateral educational policy as an overreach of authority in Chin State, underscoring growing governance tensions between the regional resistance administration and local ethnic minorities.