The Secondary School Examination results would have brought some respite to those who have been advocating tough measure from the State Government to root out Naxalism and bring those living under the shadow of red terror to the mainstream society.
The results especially in the Naxal’s den of Giridih, Chatra, Palamu and lohardaga have been good despite education always being at the receiving end. Giridih which had witnessed a series of naxal attacks on security forces sits at the top of the table of 24 districts in Jharkhand with 85. 39 per cent students pasing the board exams followed by Hazaribagh, Palamu while Chatra was at 10th position among the districts. For academicians, education is slowly turning out to be the panacea of all ills in naxal affected areas. Education is perceived as a savior for children who been targeted by left wing extremists for expanding their strength against establishment.
Interestingly, those in the education sector believe that in the condition of large tracts of land becoming infertile and agriculture getting affected badly due to drought conditions education is the only way to get out of the muddle. “Palamu and Chatra region is often hit by drought so this is the only way to get out of the region. Children in these areas are trying hard to overcome their plight. Moreover, education appears to an effective solution to the problem of naxalism,” said former Pro-VC of Ranchi University, V P Sharan.
However, contrary to the perception, former DGP of Jharkhand police V D Ram believes that education has not been challenged by naxals and that results have been more because of the hard work of students besides self study. Ram who has been a student of Netarhat confided that the school has evolved as a centre of excellence in the field of education despite being situated in naxal hit area.
“life in naxal areas is tougher so students toil hard. Besides students in naxal areas also focus on self study,” maintained Ram. Nonetheless, officials in education department claimed their share of the success on grounds of works done in tough areas and student centric activities carried out by the department. Special classes to better relations between teachers and students in addition to students’ opinion for making studies fruitful are being cited some of the reason that brought good reward for officials working in naxal dominated areas. Despite, officials also praised students for concentrating on self study. “We did introduce some student specific programmes and even some programmes were introduced by some at the level of a school. We also tried to bring a teacher close to a student so that they can solve their problem efficiently. These efforts paid in the end,” said DSE of Chatra, AK Choudhary.