Displaced students from four medical colleges in violence-hit Manipur will be allowed to have online classes or join in hybrid mode at the Churachandpur Medical College, the National Medical Commission announced on Wednesday, reported The Hindu.
The commission is a regulatory authority that governs medical education and medical professionals in India.
The decision to provide relief for students in Manipur comes after protests by several Kuki-Zomi students in Meitei-dominated Imphal who were not allowed to appear for their first-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery examinations last week.
Manipur has been gripped by ethnic clashes between the Meitei and Kuki communities since early May. Over 175 people have been killed since the conflict broke out, according to police records. Nearly 60,000 persons have been forced to flee their homes.
The commission on Wednesday said that examinations for all displaced students will be arranged in the Churachandpur Medical College. Students will be allowed to make up any deficiency in attendance and internal assessments through “special classes”.
The arrangement has been made in light of the “extraordinary situation” in Manipur and will remain in place “for a period of one year or till the situation becomes normal”, PTI reported, citing the commission’s directions to the state government. The commission said that the temporary arrangement does not involve the transfer or migration of any students between the affected colleges.
Students affected in conflict
At least 121 medical students from the Kuki-Zo community have fled the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences and the privately-run Shija Academy of Health Sciences in Meitei-dominated Imphal since the violence broke out in Manipur, reported The Quint.
Several Meitei students and staff have also fled to Imphal from the Churachandpur Medical College in the Chin-Kuki-Zo-dominated Churachandpur district.
Government officials said in June that offline classes for first-year students of Churachandpur Medical College would be conducted at the college and at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences but the arrangement did not apply to Kuki-Zo students from other colleges in Imphal.
The Manipur government had appealed to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the medical commission to provide alternative arrangements so that students at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Shija Academy of Health Sciences and the Churachandpur Medical College can continue with their classes and examinations.
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