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| March 2010 Issue |
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Young Blood
Maoist attacks on schools akin to Taliban attacks in Afghanistan
By Subhashis Mittra
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A global report by the UN education agency UNESCO has equated the attacks by activists of CPI (Maoist) on schools in Naxalite-dominated states with the systematic targeting of educational institutions by the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The report, titled ‘Education under Attack 2010’, cited these regions as places where ‘attacks intensified dramatically’ over the past two years. The report documented the Maoist attacks on schools in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar. It also highlights the large number of children recruited by Naxalites in their armed struggle against the state and calls for international investigation into the issue.
The report says attacks on schools and teachers are ‘well publicised and the perpetrators’ have ‘made public their intention to attack schools via published threats and orders’. It says 300 schools were blown up by extremists between 2006 and 2009. These include 18 in the first half of 2009 in Jharkhand and Bihar (a total of 50 in 2009). The UNESCO report found that at least 37 schools in Jharkhand in the first half of 2009 have been occupied for security operations. In Feb 2007, Chhattisgarh government sources claimed that more than 250 schools had been blown up in the recent months.
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