GUWAHATI: When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Students of several schools in Manipur that were shut for months as
ethnic violence
rippled through the state since May last year, have excelled in the CBSE Class 12 exams, in some cases outperforming zones elsewhere in the North-East by a significant margin.
St Paul’s School
in
Churachandpur
, which was turned into a shelter for the displaced during riots & reopened partially after Aug last year, is among
top-performing institutes
.
It had sheltered over 100 people from Kakching district. In Class 12 board exams, the school’s success rate of 95% far exceeds Guwahati zone’s pass rate of 82%.
“This
academic success
has come in such challenging circumstances. With internet being shut in Manipur for months, even online classes weren’t possible,” principal D L Muon said.
Churachandpur was among more volatile areas of Manipur at the peak of ethnic conflict. Besides loss of class hours, board examinees had to contend with a constant flow of distressing news.
When a semblance of normalcy briefly returned after months of violence, schools held batch-wise classes under state-provided security to ensure safety of students and avoid disturbing
displaced families
living on campus.
“Nobody was in study mode when the school reopened,” Muon recalled. “The trauma was heightened by their interactions with children from displaced families, who had first-hand experience of the conflict. To support the community, the school provided free classes to these children.” Khupgoulian Hangzo, who cleared the Class 12 exams, recalled being shaken by what he heard. “Meeting three children in my school who had lost their fathers in the violence was traumatic.” His classmate Hatlaldik said, “I had some books but needed internet to access reference material. Since that wasn’t possible, I depended entirely on my teachers.” Staff at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Churachandpur fled the district soon after violence broke out. In Oct, the school reopened mostly with contractual staff. Despite these hiccups, the school had a 98.5% success rate in Class 12 exams. About 200 displaced people had taken refuge in the school., which has among the best
education infrastructure
in the district.
“We managed to complete the syllabus somehow just a few days before the board exams started. The long shutdown had an impact on quality but that’s acceptable. None of the students of our school scored more than 90%,” said principal Vikram Singh.
