7K tribal kids have never heard of school

◗ About 7,000 children from the BruRaeng community in North Tripura have never been to school

New Delhi, July 12: About 7,000 children from the Bru- Raeng community in North Tripura have never been to school and they are living in makeshift camps that lack basic facilities of healthcare and hygenic living conditions, according to child rights body NCPCR.

The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights conducted a survey to understand the living conditions of children in the camps and devise a pathway for repatriation and rehabilitation of the Bru- Reang tribe to Mizoram.

The Bru- Reang tribe were displaced from Mizoram following an ethnic riot with the Mizos in 1997 and were given shelter in makeshift camps in north Tripura. Their number originally swelled to 50,000, but came down to 29,000 after a section of them returned to their villages in Mizoram.

According to Priyank Kannongo, Member Education NCPCR, the biggest issue for these people living in the camps is that they have no aspirations and nothing to look forward to.

“The concept of education is alien to these children and they are not aware of what schools are,” said Kannongo.

The majority of education institutions in and nearby the camps lack basic infrastructure, he said. “About 25 per cent of the interviewed education volunteers are not qualified as per the norms of the Right To Education Act 2009. And almost 34 per cent said that the medium of instruction in the institutions is not their mother tongue,” according to the NCPCR.