Manipur students walk out over teacher shortage

Over 380 students at T. Vaichong Government High School in Kangpokpi district have walked out after months of trying to study with just four teachers

Transcript

00:00Right to education without a teacher? That's the students from a Manipur school asking.

00:05Holding banners, they're trying to voice their concern as their school is left with just four teachers.

00:10But now we don't have any choice.

00:12The students of T. Vaichung Government High School in Kangpokpi District have now walked out of their classrooms.

00:17They returned home after months of trying to study without enough teachers.

00:21The school serves over 380 students. It has 21 sanctioned teaching posts, but for months, only four teachers were available.

00:28Four, to handle every subject, every class.

00:32Sometimes I too go and teach the lower classes.

00:36Repeated appeals since August 2025 went unanswered and now students feel abandoned and have no choice but to leave.

00:43Many describe the decision as heart-wrenching but necessary.

00:46Community leaders say this may be the first incident in Sadaar Hills, Kangpokpi and possibly anywhere in India,

00:52where students abandon a government school not over fees or rules, but simply because there were no teachers.

00:58Before leaving, students held placards and handed out pamphlets.

01:01Stop teachers, transfer. Only students are left.

01:04Modiji, teacher though. Why no teacher in the hill area?

01:07Today, the classroom of T. Vaichung Government High School stands empty.

01:11Not because students refuse to learn, but because the system failed to teach them.