IMPHAL, July 25: As the level of the artificial water body which is slowly submerging Chadong and other villages continues to rise since the Thoubal River water was blocked in January, education has been hard hit in the area.
A school building which is already constructed under RMSA, but yet to be inaugurated has also been submerged in the water.
Families in Chadong Village who have been refusing to shift or be shifted from their village until the Rehabilitation and Resettlement package of the government is reviewed expressed that the school going children have either been displaced or discontinued going to school.
The United Christian Academy in Riha Village which had more than 700 students when it first opened in 2003 has been left with only 32 students now, according to the villagers.
The school, they recounted was set up by five Chadong Villager to promote education in the surrounding villages.
The number of students began to dwindle after the closure of the river water which led to the rise in water level, they claimed.
Ningkham Kasum a teacher of the school said the whole school building and its compound will be submerged soon and a thin number of students are presently accommodated at a temporary shed higher up in the hills.
He said ever since the dam construction began, there has been much apprehension among the villagers.
`Even though I am a teacher,` he said he can do not much other than wait and watch.
On the other hand visitors from Ukhrul and other parts of the valley districts continue to roam as if visiting a tourist spot.
The surrounding villagers had recently banned people from thronging the area as tourists.