Manipur government on Wednesday reopened schools after more than two months but reported only 20 per cent attendance, officials said.
The schools were reopened for students from Class 1 to Class 8 while the same from class X to XII will resume after the prefabricated houses are constructed for the displaced persons. The schools remained closed since the violence broke out on May 3. The state education department in May advanced the summer vacation but the schools could not be reopened in June as the violence continued.
The schools were reopened on a day the state home department issued an order further extending the ban on mobile and broadband internet by another five days (till July 10) citing tense situation. The ban was imposed on May 3 when the violence broke out and has been extended several times since then.
Manipur CM N Biren Singh on Monday said it was decided to reopen the schools as the situation improved in most parts of the state. But firing and violence continued in some areas even on Tuesday night.
The state education department recently said Manipur has 4,617 schools but classes in nearly 100 of them could not be resumed as the displaced people have been provided shelters there. Most of these schools are in Churachandpur district, where the violence first started.
Officials in the education department said the low attendance was due to a sense of fear and reports of violence in some areas. The attendance was mostly in Imphal, where the situation is almost normal and there is a large presence of security forces, officials said.
More than 120 people have been killed and over 60,000 others have been displaced due to the violence between the Meitei and the Kuki communities. The displaced people are taking shelter in around 350 relief camps and their education has been severely impacted.