A bunch of college students in a remote village of Mizoram are proving that nothing is impossible if one has the determination. The students trek up and down a hill daily to write their online semester exams due to the lack of internet connectivity. The remote Mawhrei village in the Saiha district of Mizoram has no internet connectivity due to its geographical area. However, the students of Mizoram University has found a spot near the village with a decent internet reception at Tlao Tla hill.
Seven students climb the hill to write their paper. A makeshift hut made of bamboo, tarpaulin and banana leaves on the top has been turned as their ‘exam centre’. The students stay there for over three hours to write their undergraduate exam and then return home the same way.
Mizoram University has been conducting the even-semester examinations for undergraduate programmes from June 1 onwards. Nearly 24,000 students from various departments or courses are taking the exam through online mode due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, many of the villages across the state are yet to be covered by internet connectivity. It is quite difficult to have decent internet access in these areas due to their geographical characteristics. Taking the issue into consideration, the state government has also allowed students to travel to cities and towns for better internet connectivity despite lockdown.
A member of a social Organisation Mara Students’ Organisation was quoted by NDTV as saying, “There is no 4G network in the village, but here the network is stable…we appeal to the government to solve this problem."
Meanwhile, MSO has also set up another hut in the Tlabung, a border town located about 250 km from Aizawl. A local student body Young Mizo Association has constructed a Mawhrei-like hut at an elevated ground where students can access a smooth internet facility to write their semester exams.
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