KTV joints hit pause for matriculation exams

KTV joints hit pause for matriculation exams

By Si Thu Lwin   |   Thursday, 13 March 2014

KTV bars and "stage show" restaurants in Mandalay have been ordered to close their businesses during matriculation exams so that students are not distracted from their studies.

Citing noise and safety concerns, administrators ordered the ban from March 12 to 22. In Mandalay, almost 85,000 students will sit their matriculation exams over the 11-day period.

"Ward administrators have already issued orders to the public not to make too much noise while the exams are taking place," one township administrator in Mandalay said last week.

"We also told KTV bars and restaurants that run stage shows to close during the exam week," he said.

Staff at KTV bars said owners were largely complying with the order from the local authorities.

"Our shop has to close because of the matriculation exams; we were told to close 24 hours," said Ma Kye Zin, who works at a KTV bar on Theikpan Road in Chan Mya Thar Si township. "I plan to make the most of it and take a long holiday, and go back to my hometown."

The order attracted some criticism from residents, who questioned why the government allowed the KTV bars and stage shows open in the first place. They are almost always a front for prostitution, which is illegal under Myanmar law.

"If you say that these kinds of shops must close during the exams, it basically means you are saying they are running legally," said U Mya Aye, a resident of 59^th Street in Chan Mya Thar Si township.

"Anyway, I guess we should be happy that they'll be closed, even if it's only for the exam period." – Translation by Thiri Min Htun

 

 

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/ktv-joints-hit-pause-for-matriculation-exams/