Regime media reported on Tuesday that eight University Training Corps (UTC) units have started a new round of military training on Feb. 10 for an undisclosed number of university students and staff from the 2024-2025 academic year. 

“Skipping training without a valid reason is not allowed. Teachers risk being transferred to remote areas, while students may be placed under township authorities for military conscription,” a teacher in the Mon State capital Mawlamyine told DVB on the condition of anonymity.

The seven-week-long training is underway at centers in Naypyidaw, Yangon, Mawlamyine, the Shan State capital Taunggyi, the Ayeyarwady Region capital Pathein, and Bago Region’s Taungoo.

Regime media added that 768 university students and staff from the 2023-2024 academic year participated in the first UTC intake, which began on Oct. 1, 2024.

The UTC was revived after the conscription law was enforced on Feb. 10, 2024 by the regime, which wants to “replenish military forces.”

It claimed that the UTC was established in 1922 under British colonial rule. It stated that 47,010 university staff and students received training, voluntarily, from 1952 to 2018. No figures exist from 2019-2023, which suggests that the UTC was not active during this four-year period.

The regime issued stricter military conscription regulations on Jan. 23. The National Unity Government (NUG) Ministry of Human Rights estimates that 23,799 males aged 18-35 have been conscripted by the regime into the military.