PATNA : A 38-year-old police sub-inspector, Ajay Bahadur Singh, is on a mission; in the Maoist-affected villages in Bihar’s Gaya district, the unyielding cop is bent on bringing education to children in the remote villages of the backward district.
Currently posted as Station House Officer of Chhakarbandha police station, Singh stands like a beacon, ushering tribal children towards a promising future through free education.
Singh, who holds a postgraduate degree in English from the Banaras Hindu University, started the initiative after being posted to Chhakarbandha on February 8, 2024. Since then, he has been personally teaching children from tribal communities like Bhuiya and Bhokta – considered among the most backward groups.
Every day, children gather at the police station premises to attend classes before going home. The area, around 120 km from the Gaya district headquarters, has seen a remarkable transformation, with the number of students rising from just a handful to 625 within a year. The police station now resembles a school every morning, filled with students of all age groups eager to learn.
Singh got the idea after noticing that children used to throw stones at police teams during patrolling and operations. “Children would hide indoors on seeing the police. Their fearful and hostile behaviour made me think deeply,” Singh recalled.
He started visiting nearby villages and convincing parents to send their children for classes. Initially, only 4–5 students came. “I gave toffees and sports kits to attract them. They then encouraged others to join,” he said.
The initiative gained support when then Gaya SSP, Ashish Bharti (2011 batch IPS officer), came to know about Singh’s effort. Bharti inaugurated a library at the police station and provided books for the students under the community policing scheme. Study materials and sports kits were also distributed. Competitions like Kabaddi and Kho-Kho were organised, and winners were rewarded. “These activities helped build trust and changed people’s perception of the police,” Singh shared.
Later, when Anand Kumar (a 2012-batch IPS officer and an IITian) took over as SSP in December 2024, he encouraged Singh to include students above 17 years of age and helped design strategies for coaching them for competitive exams. He also motivated students to aim for jobs in the police and the paramilitary forces.
Singh then involved other young police officers at the station, who volunteered their free time to teach. Now, students are preparing for recruitment into the state police and central paramilitary forces. “Earlier, most families had at least one member involved in Maoist violence. Now, they are focusing on education and jobs,” the officer said.
Chhakarbandha, once known for opium cultivation, is also seeing change. From December 2024 to March 2025, Singh led a special drive to destroy illegal poppy crops. “We want to make the entire area addiction-free,” he added.
Singh, a native of Kaimur district in Bihar, was inspired to join the police by his father, Sudama Singh, an ex-Army officer. His younger brother Vijay Bahadur Singh is also serving in the Army. “Serving society is in my blood,” Singh said.
Officers from the CRPF and other central forces have also come forward to teach students preparing for competitive exams. So far, 17 students have cleared the physical test for recruitment into the state police, and 25 more are getting free coaching for various government exams.
Children are excited to learn. “We study here first and then go to school. We love coming here,” said a student. Youngsters say they now dream bigger. “We get free tuition from policemen who themselves cleared tough exams. They help us understand tough subjects,” said another.
Parents are also happy. “This initiative has changed our children’s lives,” said a local resident. The people now see the police not as a force to fear, but as mentors who care.
Singh believes that basic education is every child’s right; his efforts, beyond his official duty, illuminating lives of many in a region that once lived in the shadow of violence.