I
n Manipur, usually it's militants who pass diktats. But now, it's human rights groups and student organizations that have forced all schools and colleges to shut down.
They want action taken against those involved with an alleged fake encounter in Imphal in July. Chungkham Sanjit, a militant who had surrendered, was shot dead inside a pharmacy
on a busy Imphal road by the police.
The policemen claimed Sanjit had opened fire against them, but pictures taken by an anonymous photographer showed Sanjit was unarmed. Weeks of protests followed that incident. Six police men were suspended, but the Apunba Lup, an umbrella organisation of civil society bodies and student unions, wants the chief minister to resign. "If our students are denied right to live then what's the point of studying, we must first fight for our right to live?" says Anita, Convener of Joint Action Committee Against Fake Killings.
Tuition classes have not been spared. NDTV visited a girls' hostel where Class 12 students are worried. Among them, Mina, who points out her board exams are just around the corner. "I sometimes pray to God to help us so that classes may start soon," she says.
Some departments in the Manipur University tried to hold classes secretly, but they've been threatened with serious consequences. Ironically, the same organizations that are holding Education hostage had once appealed to militants to "make education a free zone'", or spare students and classes from strikes and shut-downs. That appeal now has an entire government campaign named after it.
"We would like to appeal to the organisations and student apex bodies and the government to come to some compromise and let us resume our classes," says Karnajit Maisnam, a post-graduate student.
The government has refused to comment on the issue. As the standoff continues, teachers are finding new hobbies. At HRD Academy, a college in Imphal, lecturers are playing badminton to kill time.
