Over 8,000 children of Myanmar, Bangladesh refugees, Manipur IDPs enrolled in Mizoram schools: Edu min

Aizawl, Aug 9: 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.