A group of 8th grade students from the Ma Haw Tha Hta Nationalist School have recited poetries at a ceremony to mark the opening of the high school, which include religious hatred. The school is operated by Ma Ba Tha- the Myanmar acronym for a pro-Buddhist group, the Association for Protection of Race and Religion and it is situated in Hlegu Township in Yangon Region. The high school opening ceremony held on 3 December included reciting of a poetry by Ma Aw Chit (a.ka.a) Ma May Thu Khin. She recited a poetry with the title “When I become the nation’s leader”. The text of poetry says, if one day I become the leader of the nation there will be no young women who faced destruction by a member of other religion due to fall in love with him. Other lines in the poetry said, “There is no space for people who destroy Bamar race”. “Not to think even to invade our country I will not allow them even to put their feet on the fence of the nation”. The poetry was seen by many as to promote hatred on the members of the minority religions. The poetry has attracted praise from U Wirathu and other monks from the Ma Ba Tha headquarters. The Ma Haw Tha Hta School has started on 1 June 2016 for the current academic year and the school’s inaugural event was only held on 3 December. Many scholars has criticized the school for teaching the students on the religious issues as a part of their curriculum. Some of the media in Myanmar has also criticized the school they said it was important for the children to be taught on the cultural value their own religion but it is incorrect them to train them to hate the members of the other religions. At the Hlegu School, 150 eighth Grade school students are studying as boarding students and the plan is to open classes for 9th and 10th grade from the next year. Similarly, there are plans to open the new branches of Ma Haw Tha Hta schools in Mandalay and Taunggup Township in Rakhine State. Reference: Source of BHRN