Zingtun academy leading by example
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: January 14, 2025 -

IT is indeed heartening to learn that amid the prevailing tense situation gripping the state for over 19 months a school at Mapao Zingtun village still has students and teachers from various ethnic backgrounds, including the two communities at the centre of the conflict.

Though existence of the school in a Tangkhul village could be the primary reason for the presence of people belonging to the warring Meetei and Kuki communities, one can't take away the credit from the school's administration and the local populace for instilling sense of security among the students and teachers, especially if one takes note of the fact that, with exception of educational institutions operating within the campus of security forces, there is no other schools in even violence-free areas which have students or teachers from the two warring communities.

In-spite of multiple challenges, the state government has been endeavouring to ensure that the future pillars of the society are not deprived of their daily dose of sharpening cerebral content and gaining life skills even if many parents have opted education of their children outside the state in view of the violence showing no signs of ebbing.

Moreover, frequent disruptions caused to normal academic chores in the initial phases of the conflict forced wealthier and middle class families to tuck their children away to safer locations as they fear that high tension in the state and bloody gunfights occurring occasionally in the peripheral villages would distract the students from focussing on their studies.

In short, the restive situation has all affected all sections of the society with students being the hardest hit.

However, The Times of India report about the Needy Home Academy at Mapao Zingtun village remaining unaffected by the communal conflict between the Kuki and Meetei communities drives home the message about how the neutral communities could play a significant role in not only ensuring continuity of education but also in keeping members of the warring communities in the same location.

The fact that Mapao Zingtun village falls under Kangpokpi district, which is technically one of the epicentres of the conflict, underscores that administrators of the academy have been taking good care of the 600-plus students and more than 40 teachers from various ethnic backgrounds.

That all the students and teachers of the residential school feel safe and at home in the academy also testifies tireless efforts of the administrators and the locals in bridging the deep divide between the Meetei and the Kuki.

The violence since May 2023 might have claimed more than 250 lives and forced displacement of nearly 60,000 people from their ancestral home and hearth but those in the academy living peacefully should give a ray of hope to all the optimists that the situation may return to normalcy sooner than expected in case the neutral communities play their part in easing the existing tension.

By ensuring that the academy continues to operate smoothly in-spite of the apprehension that the violence might affect the school, the founders have proven without any doubt that commitment to provide modern education to the rural children would help overcome all odds, including the present conflict and make the stakeholders concerned realise the importance of collective efforts in inculcating the sense of belongingness and oneness in the state.