6,195 Myanmar students in Mizoram schools

Mizoram University to launch diploma course in Burmese language to prepare locals for opportunities in the neighbouring country

Almost 6,200 children of Myanmar people who fled the civil war back home are studying in schools in Mizoram, mostly in the border districts.

Officials in State capital Aizawl said most of the students who have taken refuge from across the international border are in government-run schools. A few are in private institutions.

Mizoram shares a 510 km border with Myanmar. A majority of some 40,000 Myanmar refugees in the northeastern State belong to the Chin community, ethnically related to the dominant Mizo people of Mizoram.

“The figure of Myanmar children enrolled in our schools keep changing. But in 2021, a total of 6,195 children from the neighbouring country were enrolled in schools across Mizoram,” the State’s School Education Director, H. Lalthlangliana told journalists in Aizawl.

He said the laws do not prohibit the Myanmar children from enrolling in Mizoram’s schools, but they are not treated as refugees as the Centre has not granted the status to Myanmar nationals. These children have also not been given free school uniforms, textbooks, and other benefits because of their status, he added.

Locals have been helping the Myanmar children out in many cases, officials said.

The unrest in Myanmar, however, has not stopped Mizoram University (MZU) from eyeing opportunities in that country.