Where relief is the way out of camp: What it is like to be students in strife-torn Manipur

 Since tensions erupted between the Meitei and the Kuki tribes in the state, like in all instances of violence it is the women and the children who have suffered the most

A career counseling session held in May 2024 at a relief camp.: The Telegraph Online.

Arnab Ganguly, TT, Calcutta, 12.07.24 : Two girls, one the daughter of a farmer and the other of a daily wage earner, this week moved to a hostel in Imphal after more than a year in relief camps in strife-torn Manipur. They have heard of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, the slogan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, which also happens to rule the northeastern state hit with ethnic violence since May last year, but have not seen much of the slogan work for them.

“I want to be a doctor. I had appeared for the Class XII exams in 2023. Then everything went wrong. For 15 months, I lived in the camp, did not know what to do,” said one of the two bright girl students.

“Now that I have moved to the hostel, things have improved a little for me. I hope I will be able to manage my studies better,” said the girl over phone from Imphal.

Study materials distributed at camps in December last year.: The Telegraph Online.

Since tensions erupted between the Meitei and the Kuki tribes in the state, like in all instances of violence it is the women and the children who have suffered the most. Many families have had to separate for the children to study on.

The other girl, who also appeared for her Class XII exams last year, is also keen on pursuing a degree in medicine. One of her siblings has been sent to Chennai for further studies.

Since last year, while the violence went on under the noses of the Centre and the state, some activists and educationists have come together to support the students languishing in the camps. The two girls are being helped by this group of volunteers.

“Earlier there were some signboards of Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao around Imphal. I have not seen them for some time now,” said Ronid ‘Akhu’ Chingangbam, Imphal-based musician and activist who has been trying to help students living in the camps, especially those trying to pursue higher education.

Akhu and others formed the “Nouwa Education” to help the students with counselling and study materials in September last year. Nouwa means children in Manipuri. Teams of teachers have been visiting the relief camps to interact with the students, counselling sessions have been held too.

“The students who had cleared their Class XII exams were particularly anxious about what to do. Some of them want to become doctors, some are interested in hotel management,” said Akhu, who has a PhD in physics. “We held a counselling session where some 40-odd students had turned up. Our focus is now on students who will be appearing in the board exams for classes X and XII next year.”

Apart from the two medical aspirants, there are three other students in the same camp waiting to get their life back on track once funds are arranged.

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi meets violence-affected people during his visit to Churachandpur relief camp, in Manipur, Monday, July 8, 2024.: PTI picture.

For over a year the families of these students along with many others have been living in a one-room house allotted to them in the relief camp.

“Some schools started in January, the CBSE schools started running from May. Colleges are also opening up gradually,” said a female resident at the camp who is from Kangchup in Senapati district.

Prime Minister Modi had assured on the floor of the Rajya Sabha earlier this month that the situation in Manipur was improving. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who visited several relief camps on Monday, said the situation had not improved a bit since his last visit in January this year.

Modi is yet to visit the state.

In Jiribam alone, there are about 943 internally displaced people including 200 children, sheltered in seven relief camps.

Less than a month ago, a school building was set ablaze at T Motha near Moreh, while abandoned houses and shops were set on fire in Jiribam’s Kalinagar.

Yaiphaba Ensuba, project director of Nouwa Education and a teacher at the Kanan Devi Memorial College of Education, Imphal, said the number of students who could not be reached out to is much higher.

“In Subung we could go to only four to five camps. Bishnupur, Moirang has over 30-40 camps and these are spread out wide. We have not been able to cover them yet. Once we can raise some funds we will try to get more students to move to hostels where they can get a better environment to study,” said Ensuba.

The hostel expenses alone, come to approximately Rs 6,500, though the students have been offered a discount of Rs 1,500.

Over the last few months, the educationists and activists were demanding that the Manipur government should provide free education to students from the relief camps.

“There are many students who do not have the I-cards issued by the relief camps. These problems are there which have to be resolved,” said Akhu.