A government school teacher in Dantewada, the thickly forested heartland of the
left-wing insurgents.
In the insurgency ridden Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, government
school teachers risk losing their lives if they fail to indoctrinate young minds
into joining the children's unit of the Maoists. "In the entire conflict zone of
Bastar, teachers impart education in the shadow of the gun," says Raja Toram, a
government school teacher in Dantewada, the thickly forested heartland of the left-wing
insurgents.
"When I am in the classroom, my mind stays hijacked by Dadas (Maoists) who have
threatened to kill me if I fail to inspire students to get recruited in their child
unit, Bal Sangham, for which recruitment starts at the age of six." Toram says.
"In the areas controlled by Dadas, there is hardly any educational activity," the
42-year-old teacher says. "If at all it happens, it is on how to overthrow the (central)
government through an armed movement."
He further says that the ultras have warned teachers of government schools, including
residential schools run by the tribal department, against providing education at
schools where police and paramilitary troops have camped for anti-Maoist operations.
In schools where there is no police or paramilitary presence, the Maoists are known
to say that teachers should prepare students to take up arms aginst the government.
"Maoists hate education and, of course, hate teachers," a teacher based in the Konta
block of Dantewada says. "They would like the tribal population to continue in poverty
and remain illiterate, so that they can inject their ideology and raise cadres for
their bloody movement."
He is surprised that neither the local authorities nor intellectuals from cities
visit Bastar and highlight the sufferings of teachers.
"The educational system here has crumbled because teachers mostly do a bunk to save
their own lives and those of their family members," he says.
Primary school teacher Mahendra Sahu makes an interesting observation: "In Dantewada
district and Bhopalpatnam (in Bijapur district), teachers outsource their work to
unemployed youth for a fixed monthly amount. This is the best way to avoid getting
sacked by the government and escaping the Dadas."
Chhattisgarh additional director general of Police Girdhari Nayak says: "There is
no denial of the fact that teachers are put under a lot of mental stress in Bastar's
interiors. Militancy has hit the educational system the most there. Be they teachers,
traders, other civilians, or even the police, everyone is under the shadow of the
gun."
Police say that the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist), which
holds sway in the region since the late 1980s, has hundreds of cadres in the Bastar
region. They are armed with AK-47 assault rifles, mortars and rocket launchers.
These cadres are backed by thousands of 'Sangham members' armed with traditional
weapons such as the bow and arrow.
Courtesy: Hindustan Times
