RAIPUR: Students in Chhattisgarh’s south Bastar are delighted after Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Thursday announced the reopening of 260 government schools after a gap of 15 years. The four districts of Dantewada, Sukma, Bijapur and Narayanpur are the epicentre of the outlawed CPI (Maoist) group.
Educational activities were stopped in these schools due to the violence unleashed by the Maoists. Children were either homeschooled or remained out of school. Now, over 11,000 students have been enrolled in schools.
Baghel announced the reopening of the schools virtually, and interacted with the students and parents on the occasion of Shala Pravesh Utsav (school admission festival), which is held on June 16 across the state every year.
According to an official estimate, over 400 government schools closed down for reasons related to left-wing extremism (LWE), since many school buildings were targeted after the now-disbanded controversial government-backed anti-naxal peace campaign, Salwa Judum, began in 2005.
Most students remained out of school all these years. “Only a few might have gone to ‘Porta Cabins’ (residential schools for children in LWE-affected areas),” Alok Shukla, principal secretary (school education), said. “Now, after we have been able to go to these areas, the children have been brought back to seek education.”
The state government’s decision came following the plea by the local communities to reopen the schools. The maximum number of schools have been reopened in Bijapur (158) followed by Sukma (97), Narayanpur (four) and Dantewada (one).
Requisite arrangements, such as recruitment of staff, admission and revised enrollment of children, and restoration of buildings, have already been carried out.