Ngunliansanga, 18, and Labiakcliki, 17, are not friends. But they are together because they share the same fate, one that tore apart their lives.

Every morning at around 7.30am, the two students of class 10 leave their homes in Myanmar’s Tiao Khawmami village and run down the road to the bridge over Tiao river that serves as the international border. They hurriedly cross it to enter India, then run another kilometre to attend class at Zokhawthar secondary school.

Of the 63 students in their class, there are six who make the journey from villages in Myanmar to India everyday. The two teenagers have been doing this for the past one and a half years, ever since the only school in their village was damaged in the fighting between Myanmar military and rebel forces.

Zokhawthar, the first village at India-Myanmar border at Champhai district in Mizoram, has 11 schools — nine primary, one high school and one senior secondary school. The fighting across the border has led to the closure of many schools in the border villages of Myanmar.

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“There are 400 Myanmar students who come to our school daily. Before the military coup in 2021, we only had 10-15 students who came to our school. Of the 702 students today, we have 400 students from Myanmar who cross the border to take classes,” said Francis Rammuanawma, 38, headmaster of St Joseph’s School in Zokhawthar.

The students who come here are from villages close to the bridge and also from places such as Hanlun, which is around 5km inside Myanmar. In the fight with Myanmar military, rebels have taken over many school premises.

Fighting between the military junta and the rebel forces such as People’s Democratic Force and Chin National Army have intensified since last month. Earlier this month, the rebel forces took control of the military bases near the Khawmami village in India, bordering Myanmar.

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Rammuanawma said the school also has some students from refugee camps, but the number is low because they are unable to pay the tuition fee.

Until last year, Ngunliansanga and Labiakcliki were students of the Basic Education High School at Tiao Chaunga. They lived in the same village but hardly spoke to each other while studying at the Myanmar school.

It’s different now.

“Since the pandemic, the school was hardly functioning. When the fighting started in 2021, our classes were suspended. Then sometime last year, our school was closed. We did not know if it would open again, so our parents decided to send us here,” Labiakcliki said.

Under the Free Movement Regime (FMR) at the porous India-Myanmar border, people from both countries are allowed to travel up to 60km without a visa.

Labiakcliki’s father is a carpenter, Ngunliansanga’s a truck-driver.

Ngunliansanga said most of his friends dropped out of school after civil war broke out in Myanmar. “We love the schools in India. They have better facilities and more teachers. I have made many new friends, but I miss the ones back home, with whom we had grown up together. They have joined the cadre of the People Democratic Force (PDF), or have got married and are staying at home,” he added.

The PDF is one of the prominent rebel groups fighting the military junta to restore democracy in Myanmar. Most refugees in Mizoram admitted that the young men in their families dropped out of school and joined the PDF.

“It is a people’s revolution. We do not mind sending our sons to fight against the army. The elders in the family participated in the protests as part of the civil disobedience movement. My younger brother’s son also joined the rebel forces and is fighting the army,” said Senjiphnemi,42, a refugee at the Theiba camp, who is from Myanmar’s Kalay district.

The closure of schools in the Myanmar villages has also opened new avenues for many Mizoram residents, who teach nursery students inside restaurants across the border.

Lulun Taithul, a teacher at Baptist English School who teaches 95 students from Myanmar, said there are many who need remedial classes. “I charge ₹400 from each student. The students are from nursery to class 8. Nursery students cannot travel so I take home classes. Sometimes I teach in the eateries that their parents run,” Taithul said.

“In the afternoons when business is slow, I use a corner of the restaurant to teach a Myanmar eatery owner’s daughter. The older ones come over to India.”

Earlier this month, when the military junta conducted air strikes to attack rebel forces, who had taken over the military camps in the area, Ngunliansanga and Lalbiakcliki, along with their families, had shifted to a refugee tent on the Indian side of the border. Before leaving their homes on the night of November 12, the two had also carried their uniform and books.

“For five days, we lived in India near the school. It was easier for us. We did not have to get up early and could reach school in five minutes. But now our parents have moved back to Myanmar. So we travel to India every morning again,” Lalbiakcliki said.

While in school, classmates often tease the two for spending most of their time together, time that is spent in leaving home, reaching school, attending the same class and returning.

But they do not mind.

“I attend this school in India to become someone famous in life. I want to become a movie director someday. There are big cities in India, which offer better opportunities,” Ngunliansanga said.

Lalbiakcliki, too, is pursuing a dream. She wants to finish school quickly, become a nurse and serve her people back home.