A growing number of young people in Myanmar are leaving for neighboring Thailand to flee compulsory military service announced by the junta one month ago.

The announcement on February 10 prompted citizens subject to the call-up to try to escape Myanmar. Many swarmed foreign missions, including the Thai embassy in Yangon, to obtain long-term visas.

Two people died last month when they were caught in a crowd at a passport office in the second largest city of Mandalay.

A university in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai received 2,100 applications to take entrance exams earlier this month for 100 places at its English-language department. Most of the applicants were from Myanmar.

A 32-year-old applicant from Yangon said his twin brother and all of his friends are on the side of pro-democracy forces. He said he has no intention of joining the military to shoot them.

An official of the university said the institution has never received so many applications. The official also said the university will provide as much support as it can to students from Myanmar.

Myanmar's junta said last month that men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 must serve for the military for up to two years. The duration of service can be extended to five years during a state of emergency.

The junta said it will call up the first batch of 5,000 people in April. But it later announced that it does not plan to include women in the conscript pool. It was an apparent move to quell concern among young people.

Myanmar's military grabbed power in a coup in February 2021. It has since been fighting against pro-democracy forces and ethnic minority militias.

The military has been seeing a growing number of soldiers killed or surrendering after the alliance of ethnic militants launched coordinated offensives in late October in the eastern state of Shan.

The planned conscription is believed to be an effort to make up for the loss of soldiers.