Three months ago on this day, ethnic clashes convulsed Manipur, courtesy of a court-proposed tweak to the state’s reservation matrix, and a series of ill-timed decisions of the state government that pried open deep rifts between communities. Since then, the violence that killed nearly 150 people and displaced another 40,000 people has exacted a wrenching cost, the horrors of which are only slowly unfolding. On Thursday, this newspaper reported on another aspect of this ongoing tragedy, quoting the Union education ministry that told Parliament that 14,763 school-going children were displaced due to the ongoing ethnic strife.
Vulnerable children are often soft targets when ethnic violence targets a community, and in Manipur, a complete breakdown of law and order has allowed vigilante groups to inflict unspeakable horrors — the viral video of the barbaric sexual assault of two Kuki women by a Meitei mob that outraged the country and prompted the Supreme Court to issue stern directions to the state government is only one such example. The displacement of children is particularly worrying because it can have a far-reaching impact on young minds, and leave deep scars in the psyche of a future generation. If a community is to recover from the embers of ethnic fire, the government has to be proactive in safeguarding the future of these young children. The good news is that 93.5% of the students have already been admitted to nearby schools. But the authorities have to ensure the rule of law, and a resumption of normalcy sans any perception of biased policies, so that these young students can go back to classrooms, and remain there.
