The reopening of universities in Burma by the country's military rulers was condemned as a "sham" yesterday by an international group who attended a one-day education forum chaired by Burmese opposition leader Ms Aung San Suu Kyi in the capital, Rangoon.
Burma's ruling military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which has been widely condemned for shutting down the country's higher education system five years ago, as well as for its human rights record, announced the reopening of universities and colleges in July.
Pro-democracy opposition groups claim that only a few colleges have been reopened on a part-time basis.
"It's purely a cosmetic exercise. We discovered that most colleges are still shut. And students have to sign papers stating that they have no political involvement," said Mr Martin Lacey of the Burma Action Ireland (BAI) campaign group.
Mr Lacey was one of the 14 academics and activists from 10 countries who attended the event at the National League for Democracy party's headquarters in central Rangoon on Monday.
Mr Lacey praised the "courage" of the NLD members who spoke out at the 200-strong meeting which was monitored, as is customary, by members of the regime's military intelligence. In the decade since the generals refused to allow the results of 1990 elections won overwhelmingly by the NLD, thousands of party members have been jailed, tortured and forced into exile.
At a press conference yesterday in Bangkok, the group echoed Ms Suu Kyi's call to the international community to continue to support democratic reforms in Burma that would lead to genuine education reform. "Democracy in Burma first, and everything else follows," said Ms Suu Kyi in Rangoon. She has regularly accused the military rulers of "sacrificing the future" of Burma's youth to safeguard their hold on power.
There are few signs that the latest calls for reform will be heeded by the generals, who have successfully fended off international pressure to change, including sanctions, for more than a decade.
Recently, the SPDC received a boost as a result of an EU decision to allow Burma to attend meetings between the EU and the Association of Southeast Nations.
In Rangoon, on Monday, Mr Lacey presented Ms Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Freedom of Dublin in March, with a brooch from Lord Mayor Maurice Ahern as well as the words of a song written by U2's Bono, titled Walk On, which will appear on the band's new album due in a few weeks.