Education staff in Chin State have contributed more than 6.6 million kyat (US$4,400) to the family of murdered teacher Dim Lum Mang, who was murdered in the Tonzang Township community where she had been teaching in the primary school.

The 27-year-old woman was shot and killed on November 17 by a man living in her village of Tuivialzang.

Marlar Yee, director of the Falam District education department, transferred the funds to Dim Lum Mang’s mother on Wednesday.

“Our teacher was killed while she was serving as a school teacher, so education staff in every township [in Chin State]made a volunteer contribution to her family,” Marlar Yee told Khonumthung News. “Dim Lum Mang was young. She had not been working with the education department for long, but she sacrificed her life for it,” she said.

Dim Lum Mang’s murder has also raised tensions between ethnic Chin and Manipuri people in the area, as the alleged perpetrator was a man from Manipur, in India, living in Tonzang Township.

Some 500 people held a rally in Tedim town on December 1, demanding justice for Dim Lum Mang, and calling on the government to crack down on Manipuri armed groups that have long sought refuge in Chin State and the Kabaw Valley in Sagaing Region. It is unknown if Dim Lum Mang’s murderer had an affiliation with these insurgent groups.

Chin State’s social welfare minister Pau Lum Ming Thang said that at this point the central government should get involved, and that the issue of the Manipuri armed groups’ presence in the area had been raised as a concern by his party, the Zomi Congress Democratic Party, since 2013.

“The state government cannot solve this problem. I think that only the Union government can solve this problem,” Pau Lum Ming Thang told Khonumthung News.