Attendance in most Manipur schools remains low

Imphal (Manipur) [India], July 7 (ANI): Attendance in most Manipur schools remains low two days after they resumed.

Schools were closed in Manipur for about two months and reopened on Wednesday.

While talking to ANI, the Vice Principal of a Public school in Imphal attributed the low attendance to the parents’ unwillingness to send their children to school to prevent them from trouble.

“After the government announced the reopening of schools on July 5, the attendance of school students was very low. It is less than 5%. This is because parents have high apprehension that there may be an unwanted situation or crisis. That is why parents are not sending their children to school regularly,” said Salam Yaima, Vice Principal of DAV school in Imphal.

He further added that the parents are so scared that most of them are thinking about getting their children shifted to another place so that they are safe.

“Many parents are talking about taking a TC (transfer certificate) if the situation is not going to be normal in the Imphal Valley,” he said.

The Vice Principal went on to request that the government of Manipur restore peace so that the students are safe.

“We want the government of Manipur to restore normalcy so the lives of the students can be safe,” he further requested.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh announced that Classes 1 to 8 in schools will be reopened from July 5.

“We have decided to deploy state security forces and paramilitary forces in vulnerable areas. Deploy more security personnel in five particular districts. We have decided to reopen the schools for standards 1 to 8 from 5th July,” Biren Singh told the reporters.

The ethnic violence erupted on May 3 in Churachandpur after tribal Kuki groups called for protests against a proposal for granting scheduled tribe status to the majority Meitei community. It has left at least 118 people dead and nearly 40,000 displaced so far.

Thousands of people are in relief camps.