http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100510/jsp/bengal/story_12431496.jsp
<http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100510/jsp/bengal/story_12431496.jsp> Fear, extortion drive away teachers NARESH JANA *Salboni, May 9: *As many as 50 teachers recruited for pri-mary schools in the Lalgarh region have stopped going to work because of the fear of Maoists and extortion threats from the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities. They had been sent to 50 schools, each of which has only one teacher now. But the new teachers either stopped going at the end of the first day itself or after putting up with the threats for a while. The teachers who spoke to *The Telegraph *were too scared to let even their schools’ names be revealed. So all the teachers’ names have been changed. On his first day at a Salboni school, Anil Dolai’s lone colleague told him he would have to pay over Rs 2,000 every month from his salary to the People’s Committee. “I was told that if I didn’t give the money, I would be killed. I promptly returned home and requested the district inspector of schools (primary) to shift me to another school. I’ve been shifted to a school near my home for the time being,” said Dolai, from Keshpur, a pocket of West Midnapore district that is not Maoist-affected. Dolai’s colleague said activists of the committee had ordered him to tell the new teacher about their demand. “They take Rs 2,000 from me but told me they would want more from the new recruit.” A primary school teacher is paid around Rs 11,000 a month at the beginning. The experience of Hrishi-kesh Bakshi, who had joined a Lalgarh school in March, was “terrifying”. “The day I joined, I learnt that a teacher of my school, Kartik Mahato, had been shot dead inside a classroom. Hearing this, my parents told me to return home. I petitioned the district inspector and got a transfer.” Bakshi would have quit the job had he not been shifted. Parameswar Mahato was moved out of a Belpahari school after a dozen people surrounded him one day and asked him if he could read and write in the Santhal language Alchiki. “When I told them I did not know Alchiki, they told me I’d have to pay Rs 10,000 a month to a villager of their choice who would take classes in that language,” said Mahato. Another teacher fled Birkand in Lalgarh after he learnt that the Maoists used the school building for their meetings. *The Telegraph* had reported earlier how the Maoists ran an extortion racket, collecting crores of rupees every month from government employees like schoolteachers and block officials as well as traders and contractors. District inspector of schools (primary) Madhup De said 900 primary teachers had been appointed on March 1 to 657 schools that were run by a single teacher. “Of them, 50 teachers posted in the Maoist-hit areas were reluctant to work. So, we shifted them to other schoo- ls on humanitarian grounds. But I have told them that they will have to return to these schools when the situation improves,” the inspector said. The 50 schools have about 1,500 students in all. “The schools in Jungle Mahal have missed 80 to 110 teaching days in the past year because of blockades and bandhs called by the Maoists and their sympathisers. Now the teachers’ refusal to work there has come as a double blow to the students,” said a school education department official. -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth?hl=en-GB.
