Nay Pyi Taw, June (13)
The military council, which has deployed its troops on the front lines almost all over the country, is recruiting youths who have passed matriculation examination to attend the Defence Services Academy (DSA), Defence Services Technological Academy (DSTA) and Defence Services Medical Academy (DSMA) as cadets.
The Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defense Services announced in the newspaper on June 12 that the applications for the cadet training of the three military universities can be obtained from the nearest regional military headquarters starging June 12.
Applicants for DSA, DSTA, and DSMA must be between the ages of 16, and 19 years and 6 months on January 1 of the following year.
However, the age limit for cadet training recruited after the coup in June 2021 was reported to be no younger than 16 and no older than 18 on January 1, 2022.
According to U Than Soe Naing, a political analyst, when young people are desperate to join the army, the military council is attempting to ease the criteria and conditions in order to recruit cadets.
After the military coup in 2021, when there were few applicants for admission to the Defence Services Academy (DSA), Defence Services Technological Academy (DSTA) and Defence Services Medical Academy (DSMA), the military council had to extend the deadline for applications to two months under the pretext of COVID-19 outbreak.
In 2021, there were only around 400 applicants for each of the DSA, DSTA, and DSMA, according to the media, citing sources who are close to the matter of cadet selection.
CDM Capt. Kaung Thu Win told Than Lwin Times that after the coup, there are only a few hundred applicants for military academies.
Captain Kaung Thu Win stated that prior to the military takeover, from 2000 to 2010, the number of applicants and cadet graduates at each military academy was around 1000–2,000 each year.
The People’s Defense Forces (PDFs), which built up during the Spring Revolution, chose to take the path of armed revolution in response to the military council’s atrocities, shootings, killings, torture, and series of arrests.
In this condition, there has been a rift between the military and the civilians, and the people are no longer willing to join the military community, and they are resisting the regime forces every day in Sagaing and Magwe Region, the strongholds of resistance forces.
Political observers and some in the military community estimate that the cadet training to be opened by the military council’s military academies will be attended by only the children of military officers and pro-military communities.
News – Than Lwin Times
Photo: MOI
Thanlwintimes