AIZAWL, Aug 9 (PTI): More than 8,000 children of refugees from
Myanmar and Bangladesh and internally displaced people
(IDPs) from strife-torn Manipur are receiving education in
schools in Mizoram, its school education minister
Lalchhandama Ralte said.
Of the 8,119 children, 6,366 students are from Myanmar, 250
are from Bangladesh and 1,503 are from Manipur, he said.
Ralte said the students are receiving free school uniforms,
textbooks as well as mid-day meals like local pupils.
He asserted that the Mizoram government is committed to
providing education to these children, who are from the Zo
tribes.
“The Mizoram government views Zo tribes from all around the
world as one. This principle is reflected in our education sector
as well. Our government not only provides shelter but also
education to those in need,” Ralte told reporters on Tuesday.
He said that 44 refugee children had registered for class 10
board examinations in 2022 and 31 of them had appeared in it.
Of the 31 students, 28 have successfully cleared the board
examinations registering a pass percentage of 90.32, he said.
The minister said that enrollment in government schools has
gone up steadily during the last four years, which is a positive
indication of improvement in the quality of education in
government-run institutions.
The total enrollment of students in the 2019-20 academic
session was 1,15,005, which increased to 1,19,133 in 2020-21
and further rose to 1,28,927 in the 2021-22 academic year, he
said.
He said efforts are underway to prioritise the inclusion of Mizo
language learning in the curriculum.
Thousands of refugees of Kuki-Chin communities from
Myanmar and Bangladesh have taken shelter in Mizoram.
The Myanmar nationals, mostly from Chin state, fled to
Mizoram following a military coup in the neighbouring country
in February 2021, while the asylum seekers from Bangladesh’s
Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) came to the state after a military
offensive against an ethnic insurgent group last year.
Kuki IDPs from Manipur fled have taken shelter in Mizoram
after ethnic violence broke out with Meiteis in May.
