Boycott and bombings mar Myanmar's new school year

FILE PHOTO: Students hold a banner and flash the three-finger salute as they take part in a protest against Myanmar’s junta, in Mandalay, Myanmar May 10, 2021. REUTERS/Stringer

(Reuters) - No more than a quarter of Myanmar's more than 12 million pupils enrolled for the new school year amid a protest boycott against military rule and in the wake of a series of bombings, an official of a teachers' group said.

There were noticeably fewer students at many schools in the main city of Yangon as the new academic year began on Tuesday for the first time since both the Feb. 1 coup and the relaxation of curbs imposed last year against the spread of COVID-19.