Besides enrolling students for fresh courses, the university is also planning to facilitate the completion of education for students who had to discontinue their studies halfway due to the violence.
A group of 13 students have already reached Kerala and are ready to start a new chapter in their lives.
“We feel very homely. It's not so different from our place, there might be some distinctions in the food, but then we will be able to manage it”, Kimsi, a student from Manipur who has come to Kerala amidst the growing violence in her hometown, told local media.
Kannur University is taking in students from Manipur without demanding any qualification certificates or such documents acknowledging the fact that many of them have fled their homes amidst the violence. The only intention is to provide a helping hand to the students, said the University administration.
“We are currently not checking anything from students who don't have a certificate. However, we will communicate with their universities in Manipur and get their certificates prior to granting them degree certificates from our university.”, Gopinath Ravindran, Vice Chancellor of the Kannur University informed the media.
The students will be admitted to different colleges under the University, the authorities informed. Preference will be given to colleges that have residential campuses with hostels and other facilities.
The north eastern state has seen a flare-up of inter-tribal violence in the state in recent months, with tens of thousands of people displaced and hundreds killed.
The conflict in Manipur is rooted in British colonial policies that accentuated differences between the ethnic Meitei, Naga and Kuki tribes. The rise of nationalism and separatist ideologies in the 1970s spawned over 30 militant organizations still active today. Demands range from secession to greater autonomy and minority rights.
The current violence pits the more powerful and urban Meitei people in the valley against the Kuki Zo people in the hills.