Taipei, March 29 (CNA) Several students from Myanmar studying in Taiwan said students from their country may need financial support after a massive earthquake hit Myanmar on Friday afternoon.
According to the Ministry of Education (MOE), there are 2,973 students from Myanmar currently studying in Taiwan.
A junior at Yuan Ze University in Taoyuan told CNA that he did not expect to be directly affected because his family lives in Yangon well south of the earthquake’s epicenter.
But many ethnic Chinese in Myanmar live in the central part of the country where there was heavy damage, and the natural disaster combined with the country’s political unrest would put considerable pressure on students and their families back home.
Given that many students from Myanmar come from families that were already economically disadvantaged, they may be in need of financial support in the future, the student said.
A Ph.D. student at National Chi Nan University in Nantou County said her family had survived the earthquake, but she echoed the concern for other students from Myanmar.
She said many of them rely on family support for their living expenses and tuition and worried that it might be difficult to transfer money after the disaster.
She added that her school has contacted her and said it would provide relief in case of an emergency.
In a statement Saturday, the MOE said schools should provide counseling and academic support for these students as well as flexible learning and evaluation methods.
If they need to return home, their time off will not be counted against them, and the ministry will subsidize the cost of extra teaching hours and materials if schools provide makeup lessons when the students return, it said.
The junior explained, however, that Myanmar’s political instability could deter many students from returning home unless faced with a major emergency for fear of not being able to return to Taiwan.
The magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, at a depth of 10 kilometers. The temblor caused great damage and has left at least 1,000 dead, a number likely to go up as search and rescue missions continue.
