For a generation of young people in Manipur, the conflict that began in May 2023 is not a chapter in a history book; it is the backdrop of their adolescence. Students who were in middle school when the violence began are now approaching board exams having lost months, sometimes years, of consistent schooling.

Talking to young people in relief camps and valley neighbourhoods alike, a striking theme emerges: a mix of exhaustion and stubborn resourcefulness. Many have organised informal tutoring groups, started small income-generating projects, or taken on caregiving responsibilities for younger siblings while parents navigate the practicalities of displaced life.

Policymakers focused on immediate relief should not lose sight of this generation’s longer-term needs: consistent access to education, mental health support, and pathways to opportunity that don’t require leaving the state entirely. What Manipur’s youth have learned about resilience should not have to substitute for what they were owed in stability.