Over 14,000 refugee and displaced children in Mizoram, many struggle to sustain livelihood.

More than 14,000 children below the age of 18 are among the over 41,000 refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) currently taking shelter in Mizoram, according to the latest data from the state authorities. A total of 41,354 individuals from neighbouring Myanmar and Bangladesh, as well as conflict-hit Manipur, are currently living across Mizoram. Of this number, an estimated 14,101 are children under 18, official sources have confirmed. While, some children of school-going age receive education in makeshift classrooms inside relief camps, others have managed to enroll in government or private schools, depending on their families’ financial capacities.

A principal of a private high school in Zokhawthar, a village on the Indo-Myanmar border, noted that a handful of refugee families are relatively well-off and are able to send their children to private institutions. However, the majority of children rely on government schools, where education is mostly free. Refugee children those who are admitted to government school’s benefit from state-sponsored schemes such as free textbooks and midday meals, while school uniforms are subsidised at the elementary level. Despite these efforts, officials acknowledged that a small number of refugee children are unable to continue their education due to severe economic hardship. Some are forced to support their families through manual labour or agricultural work.

Education department officials, however, believe this number to be minimal and said the overall situation is manageable, though conditions in some remote border camps remain challenging.

The state home department revealed that of the 41,354 total refugees and IDPs, 20,355 are living in organised relief camps, while the remaining 20,999 are residing with relatives, friends, or in rented accommodations. Many are also engaged in farming and reside in temporary huts in cultivation areas.

Mizoram is currently hosting 33,504 refugees from Myanmar, spread across all 11 districts. Additionally, nearly all of the 2,217 refugees from Bangladesh’s Chittagong Hill Tracts are sheltered in Lawngtlai district in southern Mizoram, which shares borders with both Bangladesh and Myanmar. A small number of Bangladeshi refugees have also settled temporarily in Thenzawl, but the state government is working to relocate them to the Uiphum range along the Bangladesh border in Lawngtlai.

The North Eastern state is also home to 5,633 internally displaced persons from Manipur. These individuals fled to Mizoram following ethnic clashes that broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023. State authorities said that more than half of them have since returned to their home state.

Team Maverick