Education in Bastar: How Good Samaritans, Adivasi youth are rebuilding schools

Education in Bastar: How Good Samaritans, Adivasi youth are rebuilding schools Premium

On a recent bright afternoon, after the midday meal, children at two primary schools, one in Sukma and the other in Dantewada, both districts carved out of Bastar, settled into their leisure time. Two young instructors handed out papers and sketches, and for others a few leaves lying nearby, asking the children to draw or arrange whatever they wished.

The instructors (Pranith Simha, and Ashish Kumar Shrivastava) recall that they expected reflections of Jal, Jungle, Jameen aur Khet (water, forest, land, and fields) which are the images that capture the beauty of undivided Bastar in Chhattisgarh, part of the Dandakaranya forest region south of the Vindhya mountains. Instead, the children sketched vivid scenes of conflict. Some used leaves to represent military camps or guns, while others drew markets and homes overshadowed by anti-landmine vehicles or policemen with rifles.

The instructors, Mr. Simha, a student at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Pune, and Mr. Shrivastava, an IT professional in his mid-30s, had decided to turn their part-time workshops into full-time education initiatives, each eventually starting a separate not for profit non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

Mr. Simha, inspired by his parents who had run an orphanage in Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, and by his growing love for tribal culture, left IISER midway through his five-year course to start Bachpan Banao (Nurturing Childhood) in 2012. Mr. Shrivastava, leaving behind a MNC job and a promising salary in metropolitan life, followed his passion for teaching and launched Shiksharth (For Education) in 2015, along with his wife, Shalini Shrivastava, and other friends.

At the same time, young Adivasis in their twenties were also reimagining education in Bastar. Some have initiated community-run residential schools, while others developed the idea of Shiksha Doots(education messengers), local youth who had completed Class 12 and stepped in to assist teaching to children in villages where schools and government teachers were absent.

At the residential school in Jhapra, Sukma. | Photo credit: Shiksharth

But these efforts have unfolded in a region where education or other services has never had an easy path.

The Bastar region has been grappling with decades of conflict, marked by an Maoist insurgency and counter-operations by State and Central governments. Its forested terrain and lack of infrastructure make many rural hamlets difficult to reach, compounding the challenges for residents for access to ration, education and health care.

According to government data presented in the Lok Sabha in August 2025, seven of the ten districts in Chhattisgarh identified under the Aspirational Districts Programme, implying as educationally, socially, and economically backward, are located in Bastar region alone.

Over the last fifteen years, during conflicts such as Salwa Judum and now Operation Kagar, many activists say the government has “largely failed” to rebuild schools or deploy teachers, leaving nearly a generation without continuous formal education. Which resulted in many children travel long distances to attend schools, often in “portable cabins,” which affected the quality of education, or pass through areas near military camps, impacting mental health as highlighted in the Citizens' Report on Security and Insecurity by tribal rights activists.

Yet, despite the region's poor infrastructure and Bastar being one of the most militarised areas, “good Samaritans” from NGOs and socially conscious Adivasi youth have been working to keep education alive for over a decade.

Between the launch of Operation Kagar in 2024 and May 2025, the state government reports that 401 Naxalites were killed while 1,355 surrendered. Civilian casualties, including children, have also been reported during the counter-operations, along with the deaths of at least eight security officers.

With Maoist influence now significantly weakened, following heavy losses including that of key leaders and their acknowledgment of setbacks, small initiatives by local youth and organisations, along with growing awareness among parents about the importance of education, offer some hope.

Bastar-based tribal activist Soni Sori stresses, “Rebuilding schools across the region and ensuring their safety is essential to breaking the cycle of violence in the region.” Sori's is skeptical about government claims that Naxalism will be wiped out by 2026. If Adivasi concerns were not addressed, peace may not return in the context of many projects being planned to leverage the rich mineral resources in the area.

What was once undivided Bastar is now seven districts—Bastar, Dantewada, Bijapur, Kanker, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, and Sukma. The area, larger than Kerala, is home mostly to Adivasi communities, but for decades it has also been a stronghold of Maoist guerrillas.

The Maoists claim to defend locals and the mineral-rich forests against a state they see as “capitalist and exploitative”. In turn, the government has carried out counter-operations—first Salwa Judum in 2005, and more recently Operation Kagar.

Salwa Judum armed tribal youth as Special Police Officers (SPOs), some with education only up to Class 5 and surrendered Maoists, and gave them police powers, a move that opened the door to widespread human rights violations. A petition filed by eminent authors, activists, former bureaucrats, and tribal leaders, including Nandini Sundar, Ramachandra Guha, E.A.S. Sarma, Swami Agnivesh, and Kartam Joga, highlighted the human rights violations. Activists also noted that schools and public buildings in interior villages had turned into battlegrounds as security forces occupied their concrete structures, and further Maoists retaliated by destroying some of the schools to prevent the forces from using them.

In 2011, acting on this petition, the Supreme Court declared Salwa Judum unconstitutional and also directed the Central and Chhattisgarh governments to withdraw forces from the schools they had occupied.

Nandini Sundar, Professor of Sociology at the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, one of the petitioners in the Supreme Court case on Salwa Judum, and author of The Burning Forest: India's War in Bastar, explained, “It is not just that schools were taken away physically, but even the teachers were moved into Salwa Judum camps. This meant schools in the villages were emptied even while people still lived there. A school building without a teacher is meaningless.”

Ms. Sundar said children were either left without education for years or forced into Salwa Judum relief camps, or into newly established camp schools and “portacabins” (Portable Cabins), often overcrowded. She added that, over the years, many teachers became reluctant to return to interior villages, citing fear. Some incidents of attacks only reinforced the teachers' apprehensions.

Consequences of Salwa Judum on education, along with services like healthcare, is felt across the undivided Bastar.

Mr. Simha, through Bachpan Banao, began working in Dantewada, a conflict-affected district in Bastar, where many children still study far from home in residential schools or “portacabins,” temporary classrooms set up during Salwa Judum time.

Initially, he worked in these schools through a fellowship, leading a small team to improve academic and administrative processes. However, he says, he soon realised that such institutions were only temporary solutions, often disrupting tribal life and traditions, and decided not to promote residential schools or portacabins for children any longer.

He then launched the School Transformation Program (STP) and Mawa School (Our School), working with 20–25 government village schools to strengthen teaching in language, Maths, Social Sciences, assemblies, and school management committees (SMC) under the Right to Education Act (RTE). Mr. Simha says he also noticed barriers such as Hindi-only instruction, authoritative structure, and curricula designed largely for upper- and middle-class children, which left little space for the lives and experiences of tribal or urban-slum children.

In 2017, he started Sapno ki Shala (Dream School), where he says students can actively shape timetables, schedules, and learning activities; it now serves 30 children with six teachers. In 2024, he launched Bala Mitra (Child's Friend) to establish library-cum-activity centers in Dantewada panchayats, providing assistance in books, educational modules, and field support. As per Mr. Simha, so far, 67 of 169 panchayats have active centers, fostering community-driven education and supporting children beyond formal classrooms.

While Bachpan Banao works mainly in Dantewada, Mr. Shrivastava's Shiksharth focuses on Sukma, Bijapur, and other southern Bastar districts. Mr. Shrivastava notes that many children in India are affected by armed conflict, natural disasters, or difficult geography, including regions like Kashmir, parts of Northeast, and Bastar. He said that in conflict, children are the most vulnerable. “They have no voice, decisions are made for them, and their right to a safe, nurturing childhood is stolen.”

He explains that his organisation concentrates mostly on pedagogy and classroom-level initiatives. In primary grades (1–5), Shiksharth emphasises mother tongue and context-based education. For middle schools (6–8), the focus shifts to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and climate change education. According to him, Shiksharth has translated more than 500 storybooks into local tribal languages such as Koya, Halbi, and Dorla, and distributed them to over 300 schools.

Mr. Shrivastava adds that Shiksharth also supports recently reopened schools, helping with content and teaching, many of which had become inaccessible during the Salwa Judum years. He points out that around 300 schools in Sukma and Bijapur districts have reopened, some of which are also now run by Shiksha Doots.

According to Mr. Shrivastava, some children in Bastar region also show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety complaints. This makes the work of supporting them even more necessary through positive childhood experiences.

Not just young people from NGOs who left their lives in the cities, but the Adivasis themselves have joined the effort to revive education, despite having limited resources.

Rai Singh Kumeti, 26, is from Narayanpur, a district in the Bastar region, where he completed his post-graduation. He says that along with a small group of three, he started discussing ideas on teaching and learning. Over time, this group grew into a team of fifteen, with commitment to providing education to children in their community.

Their efforts led to the creation of a non-profit NGO, Koyaa Mull Seva Sansthan, in 2022, and the establishment of the Jimmidari Yaya Koyamuri Koya Public School in 2024, a residential school named after an Adivasi deity and traditional roots. Mr. Kumeti, founder of the NGO shared that the school currently enrolls 26 boys from nursery to Class 3 in Narayanpur district, most of whom come from nearby villages, including around ten who have lost one or both parents due to conflict.

Currently, he says that he and his friends take up small jobs, while a few others work as teachers and in local businesses. According to Mr. Kumeti, the school is run by contributions from the team, which also cover staff salaries, including three teachers, a cook, and a caretaker, at a total cost of around ₹70,000.

He shared that during the school's early years, the team faced administrative hurdles and waited a year before receiving official approval in 2024. Despite these challenges, they persevered, gradually expanding while maintaining a focus on education. The school plans to add new classes and eventually expand to serve more students, but funding remains limited, according to Mr. Kumeti.

Meanwhile, Ashok Baghel, a resident of Kamaram village in Sukma district, grew up during the turbulent years of Salwa Judum. He has now opened a new chapter by enabling educated and unemployed youth to take on teaching roles in villages that had lacked formal education for over a decade and a half.

When Salwa Judum began in 2005, he says his local school was closed, forcing him and 35 other children from the village to travel long distances for education. “That district at the time was Dantewada, not Sukma,” he recalls, “so we had to go there just to continue studying. We used to walk 100 kilometers from Kamaram to Bacheli on foot,” Mr. Baghel explains, “because there were no vehicles or roads at that time.”

By 2016, Mr. Baghel had progressed to college in Dantewada, but without a hostel, he rented a room, a challenge he could barely afford. It was during this time that he learned about an organisation seeking part-time teachers. “My posting was far from the college, and traveling was extremely difficult,” he says.

Once Mr. Baghel paid a visit to his own village and saw children lacking basic literacy and children without primary schooling. Realising the acute educational gaps in his community, he says he decided to start a school. In 2018, he, along with two companions, approached the Collector multiple times, submitting an application stating that he was educated and experienced enough to teach children locally.

He recalled the Collector warning him, “Are you prepared to take responsibility? The district administration cannot be held liable for any untoward incidents. You should talk to ‘them'” (referring to the Maoists) “and get back to me.”

Mr. Baghel returned to his village and was soon summoned by the Maoists. He shared the conversation with the Collector, stating he would start a school only if the Maoists permit. The Maoists agreed, but set two conditions: the school had to be non-concrete, using open structures or bamboo sheds, and he could only engage in teaching, not any other work.

What began in Kamaram village slowly grew, and today the Shiksha Doot program operates in Sukma and Bijapur, where many schools have reopened after nearly fifteen years.

Years later, as some schools including the permanent structure in urban areas of Bastar began reopening, but COVID-19 struck, and Bastar's children were once again disproportionately affected, cut off from the technology that sustained learning elsewhere, said Bachpan Banao's Mr. Simha.

Now, with Operation Kagar, the government has set itself a deadline of March 31, 2026, for a “Naxal-free India.” The operation has brought in more forces, including paramilitary personnel, into undivided Bastar. As of August 2024, as per a report by the fact-finding team consisting of a group of authors, advocates, independent journalists and tribal rights activists, the undivided Bastar is one of the most militarised regions of India with one security person to every nine civilians.

While NGOs operate cautiously, they often have to inform multiple authorities, including district administration, police and local village leaders, before entering areas, and sometimes check in repeatedly to pass security protocols. They are also monitored for their online and offline activities when team members visit villages, another NGO said on condition of anonymity. Siksha Doots face a dual problem: police sometimes view them as Maoist sympathisers, while Maoists suspect them of being informers to security forces.

Recently, reports indicated that at least ten Shiksha Doots were killed so far, suspected of being police informers by Maoists. A school cook was killed by security forces in an operation because of alleged Maoist links. “We repeatedly requested warnings or opportunities to rectify any mistakes by our fellows,” Mr. Baghel says, “but our concerns were ignored. It leaves us vulnerable, yet we continue teaching.”

Mr. Baghel currently receives an honorarium of ₹13,000 per month, but he says payments are often delayed, sometimes coming only once every six months or even annually with multiple rounds to the government offices. He teaches grades one to five, managing around 50 children on his own with no teacher present as of now. In the past eight years, there was a teacher for only one year. He also adds that the Shiksha Doots' request for regularisation remains pending with the government, despite fulfilling all formal teaching eligibility.

Despite these challenges, he has managed to convert the school building into a permanent structure that the Maoists had disallowed. He says the Maoists had not interfered in the upgrade that had broad community support.

Bela Bhatia, a human rights lawyer and member of the fact-finding committee, speaking about the recent killings of at least ten Shiksha Doots, said such acts must be condemned without hesitation. Most of those killed were young, barely educated para-teachers filling the gap in areas without functioning schools. She stressed that these killings achieved nothing and that the Maoists even bypassed their usual jan adalats or village-level hearings.

Importantly, Ms. Bhatia and Ms. Sundar highlighted that the government bears responsibility for these deaths, having militarised welfare services. Ms. Bhatia further noted that the Maoists expressed willingness for a ceasefire and political dialogue since March, yet the government did not engage, continuing operations that endanger Adivasi communities.

Published - September 23, 2025 06:51 pm IST

Source: The Hindu
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