School students affected in Manipur violence stare at uncertain future

Fifteenyearold Pushpa Karam fears she will not be able to perform well in the class 10 examinations next yearHer home in Torbung Bangla area in Churachandpur district of Manipur has been gutted in the recent ethnic violenceKaram is taking shelter in a relief camp in Kunbi area of neighbouring Bishnupur district along with 42 other schoolgoing students and their families She has been forced to miss her Mathematics and English tuitionsI fear I wont perform well in the class 10 board examination next year which might affect my dreams of enrolling in a good school in Imphal Karam saidKaram is among around 4000 schoolgoing students who have been affected by the recent ethnic violence in Manipur Of these around 1000 have beenrendered homeless in Churachandpur and affected areas of neighbouring Bishnupur district while the remaining are from Imphal East district and Moreh town officials saidAlso Read Manipur Violence CM says no to separate admin for Kuki areasWhile the students fear they might lose an academic year as they will not be able to return to their schools in the affected areas their parents immediate concern is to have a permanent place to stayMy books study materials and even all school documents were in my house which was burnt My father says we cannot return to Churachandpur anymore I dont know where I will go to school 15yearold Anu Irom Chanu a student of Don Bosco School in Churachandpur saidShe is taking shelter along with her family in a community hall in Moirang in neighbouring Bishnupur districtSeventeenyearold Namoijam Tomba Singh from Torbung Bangla area in Churachandpur said his chances of getting into a coveted course or job at the end of his school year have now been diminishedWith my academic year in the doldrums as well as uncertainty over where we will live I really dont know how I will prepare for various exams iquest NDA entrance merchant navy etc that I was planning to appear for Singh whose parents were daily wage earners saidMoirangthem Shyam of the Peoples Progressive Union which organised the relief camp in Kunbi said that the affected students must be enrolled in the nearest government school at the earliest so that their academic year is not lostAt least 73 people were killed 231 injured and 1700 houses including religious places were burnt in the ethnic violence that rocked the northeastern state recently officials saidClashes broke out in Manipur after a Tribal Solidarity March was organised in the hill districts on May 3 to protest against the Meitei communitys demand for Scheduled Tribe ST statusThe violence was preceded by tension over the eviction of Kuki villagers from reserve forest land which had led to a series of smaller agitationsMeiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipurs population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley Tribals Nagas and Kukis constitute another 40 per cent of the population and reside in the hill districtsSome 10000 army and paramilitary personnel had to be deployed to bring back normalcy in the northeastern stateCurfew has been relaxed in the 11 affected districts for different durations including 5 am to 3 pm in Imphal East and West districtsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever