Narayanpur:
In the battle between the Maoists and the security personnel, education is a huge casualty in Chhattisgarh. Terrible news for a state, which does not score very well on the social indices. One will find most of the schools in the state destroyed by Maoists so that they cannot be used by the police or the CRPF. Children here, like the ones in other cities and parts of the country, need no excuse to bunk classes. Only, they don't do it by choice.
Balaram and his friend kill their time away in the village instead of being in school studying, thanks to the Maoists. The Naxals have demolished this school in Edka village in Narayanpur district, just like several other schools in the area.
Ironically, the Maoists who claim to be doing social good, are targetting not just security men and so called informers but also schools like this one in Edka village because they suspect any structure with a concrete roof top can serve as a firing post for the security men. In the recent past, Maoists have destroyed hundreds of schools all over Chhattisgarh. "Maoists do not want schools to run because they feel security forces use them as camps. Students are suffering. They are not able to go to school. Some schools are running only in huts and other such structures,'' says Rahul Bhagat, SP, Narayanpur.
The only schools that are allowed to exist are those without concrete roofs. "We have to make this kind of roof only. Other kinds, the Maoists will destroy," says Akash Kumar , a teacher, pointing towards the asbestos roof being made at a nearby construction site.
There are a few who want their children to learn at schools that provide decent infrastructure. For those, the alternative is city schools.
Shudram is taking his niece, Sohanti to school, located 5 km away. "It is difficult for the children as we have to go to town for the school.'' Says Shudram , a guardian, who has to cycle all the way, up and down, to drop his niece to the school. Others, who cannot travel the distance, simply drop out. "Maoists blasted this school. My sister was studying here. So she stopped going to a school,'' says Mithila Kumari.
However, the security forces too are not beyond blame. Several schools and hostel buildings in the last couple of years have been taken over, to be used as shelter or base camps by the security personnel. What we see today in Narayanpur are the repercussions of the mistakes made in the past.