A recent report that 260 schools were destroyed by Maoists in five years proves beyond a shadow of doubt that the extremists are against development. A Unesco report also substantiates this point when it says that 11 schools in Jharkhand and nine in Bihar were destroyed between January and July 2009. Among the states, Chhattisgarh accounted for the maximum destruction. From the official figures available, it is clear that the schools are one of the primary targets of Maoists. They are located in the rural areas of the Maoist-affected states and cater mainly to students belonging to the poorer sections of society, the very sections for whom the Maoists have, supposedly, been fighting against the state.
By striking at the schools, destroying their buildings and terrorising the teachers and the taught, the Maoists are depriving the poor students of an opportunity to get education and advance in life. They fear that if the people take advantage of education, they would have difficulty in getting cadres and finding a space in society, even if it is on its fringes, as at present. Roads and hospitals, too, come under their attack, as they want the people to remain in a state of deprivation in order to motivate them to take up arms against the state.
The argument that the schools are attacked because police and security forces use them as their camps does not wash. In fact, it is because of the Maoist presence in the area that they are deployed there. Having said this, allowance has to be made for the fact that corrupt officials and contractors sometimes gang up to destroy schools they themselves build using substandard material and poor workmanship and blame the Maoists for it. Even so, the large number of schools destroyed suggests that there is a pattern to the attacks, which have an ideological underpinning too. Maoists have proved that they are no better than the bourgeoisie, whom they accuse of preventing development benefits from reaching the poor.