Relief camp inmates fearful of children’s future in education

Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, JANUARY 8

AMIDST the chaos of fleeing home and surviving life as refugees, since December 27, 2013 the displaced Rengmas have woken up to yet another dark fear – the fear that the price of the recent violence may well be paid in the form of their children’s future, at least academically. Razed houses can be rebuilt, their orchards will bear oranges again but what of the children already missing out on school admission? Or those students set to appear HSLC as well as HSSLC examinations in February next?
As of Wednesday, there were 381 Rengma children camped at Borpathar and missing out on admission to their respective schools. Those children are housed in three separate relief camps in the area.
Reliable sources informed that admission process for the new academic session has already started in Assam. Regular classes are scheduled to start from January 17 next. “For me as a parent, this is my biggest fear. I do not want my child to miss school,” said a father of three, sheltered at Borpathar LP School.
For another parent, a mother whose daughter is meant to appear the HSLC exam this year, the possible damage is even more acutely felt. “I do not know whether she (the daughter) will be able to write her matric exams or not,” she shared.
Tentatively, the figure of HSLC and HSSLC candidates has been put at 19 in total. Tentative because the number of HSLC and HSSLC students sheltered in one of the three relief camps could not be established till Wednesday night.
The predicament, however, has not gone unnoticed. According to sources from Rengma Naga Students’ Union they have requested the “education department” to arrange hostels for the HSLC HSSLC candidates.
Financial assistance for those students whose “houses and books have been burnt” has also been sought from the same department, the source informed.
Meanwhile, records available with officials from the youth wing of Western Rengma Nagas showed that 1824 Rengma Nagas have been sheltered in relief camps at Santipur High School, Borpathar High Scholl, Borpathar LP School, Jongpha and Phentsero.
The same document showed that 3137 Karbi people have also been placed in nine separate relief camps across the area. The combined number of displaced people is 4961, according to the document.
It also showed that the number of houses burnt in Rengma villages is 100. The break up reads like this: Khumai village 13 houses, Shati village 17 houses, Torajan (Lorenyu) 6 houses, Panjan 3 houses, Reinon village 18 houses, Janmerhe 38 houses and Nkhenlari 5 houses.