Systematic Attacks on Schools, Students Rising in India: UN Report

A United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has put India among the four countries which saw marked rise in systematic attacks on schools, students and teachers between 2006 and 2009, reported PTI.

The other three countries are Afghanistan, Pakistan and Thailand, report said.

According to report, children are kidnapped with arrows and guns in India citing story of Tarrem Kosa who spoke to Human Rights Watch (HRW) about how the Naxalites came to recruit him when he was in class eight.

“I was studying in an ashram school (government-run residential school) when Naxalites came to my hostel. They took four students from my school, but after 10-12 km the other three were sent away, and only I was kept,” he was quoted as telling HRW.

Kosa, 13 or 14 at that time, was imparted training to use bows and arrows and then given a rifle besides training to implant bombs, report said.

Report said that nearly 300 schools in Inidan are reportedly blown up by Maoists between 2006 and 2009, of which 18 were in the first half of 2009 in Jharkhand and Bihar and 50 in those two states in the whole of 2009.

UN report also found that many schools have been occupied for security operations, including at least 37 in Jharkhand in the first half of 2009.

In February 2007, Chhattisgarh government sources claimed that more than 250 schools had been blown up in recent months.

Other reports said that around 250 schools were blown up in 2006 and 2007, the UN study stated.