Teacher Killed By Maoists In Bastar, 4th Slain By Naxals In Last 6 Months
On July 14, two teachers were killed in Farsegarh in Bijapur district by the Naxals.
Raipur: Maoists brutally killed a teacher by hacking him to death in front of his family members in a village in Bijapur district under south Bastar of Chhattisgarh, police said on Thursday.
A group of armed Maoists stormed the village of Silger under Jagargunda police station late on Wednesday evening and dragged the teacher, Laxman Barse, out of his house.
The ultras then attacked him with sharp weapons killing him on the spot, police said.
His family members were also attacked when they tried to intervene, a statement issued by the police said.
He is the fourth teacher in Bastar slain by the Maoists in the last six months.
On July 14, two teachers were killed in Farsegarh in Bijapur district by the Naxals.
In February this year, a teacher was killed by Maoists in Dantewada under south Bastar.
As many as 30 civilians have been killed by Maoists in Bastar in the current year so far.
The teachers were targeted by Maoists in Bastar ever since the state government launched efforts to reopen the schools in the Leftwing extremism-hit region, closed for decades due to Maoist threat, in 2019, by appointing temporary ‘sikshadoots’ (teachers) in these schools
More than 700 schools in the remote areas of Bastar were either closed or blown up with improvised explosive devices (IEDs) explosions by the Maoists in the last three decades, forcing around 50,000 tribal children to drop out of the school, sources said.
A survey has found that as many as 113 schools in Sukma district in south Bastar were closed by the Maoists, leaving around 26,000 tribal children to drop out.
As many as 107 of them have been reopened.
In Bijapur district, more than 450 schools were closed due to the Naxal threat. Of them, 300 schools have been reopened.
In Abujhmad area of Narayanpur district in south Bastar, a school, which was closed around three decades ago, has been reopened.
The teachers appointed in these schools have meanwhile demanded the state government to provide them life insurance cover due to the Naxal threat.