Classrooms in grip of red terror

NAMITA CHOURASIA
Dhanbad, Sept. 28:

Students are fleeing government-run schools in extremism-ravaged Topchanchi and Baghmara blocks.

Almost all the 20 education institutions — both primary and middle-level — in the area have witnessed nil attendance over the past fortnight following reports that Naxalites have demanded 10 children from each school to join the underground outfits.

The two blocks are in the grip of fear ever since rumours that the extremists have sent notices to the schools to hand over 10 children started doing the rounds.

The rumours surfaced a fortnight ago when some students of Rajganj Middle School in the area claimed that the school walls were splashed with extremist slogans demanding children from each school.

Villagers alleged that “suspected” rebels had tried to abduct two children last week.

Thirteen-year-old Swapna Kumari, a Class VII student of Bokathan Middle School, nearly 25 km from the district headquarters in Dhanbad, refused to go to school after a “stranger” tried to drag her away at 10 am from near her school. “I was walking to my school when a fierce-looking man with a bushy moustache and beard tried to take me away after threatening me with dire consequences if I raised an alarm. But I managed to escape. I don’t want to go school again as dubious people are waiting to abduct us,” Swapna said. The child, according to her parents, is still in a state of shock.

Kamli Devi, the mother of a school-going boy in neighbouring Banspahar village, said the Naxalites have sent the villagers a message. “But we don’t want to comply,’’ she added. Christina Tudu, principal of Rajganj Middle School, which controls eight other schools in the villages, attributes the poor attendance rate to examination phobia.

But after persistent queries, she admitted that the students were probably scared by reports that Naxalites were planning to abduct students.

“The students are not coming as they fear abduction by Naxalites. Of the 450 students registered in the school, nobody turned up on Saturday. Today 40 students attended school after their guardians were convinced,” Tudu said.

Six teachers of the school today cycled to the remote villagers to speak to the guardians individually and virtually ferried 40 students.

“I am going to the nearby villages almost every day to allay their fears, but the villagers refuse are reluctant. I feel the rumours are the handiwork of mischief-mongers,” said Ram Ratan Pathak, a Rajganj middle school teacher.

Officer in-charge of Rajganj police station Ram Lalla Paswan said he has not received any complaints.

Who are the Naxalites?

Rather historical

To paraphrase the Dead Parrot Society, because Ryan puts it so well:
CBS has been arrogant, diversionary, misleading, bullheaded, dismissive, shameless, narcissistic, secretive and unethical. Good Lord, the press is supposed to illuminate that kind of behavior, not illustrate it.
CBS has screwed all of journalists over -- both with the way it ran the story and with the way it's handled the backlash. The network's behavior has confirmed every single nasty thing that everybody believes about the media, and it's not like the media has a nice fat reserve of goodwill to squander right now.
And a commenter adds:

An interesting question: how much of the media reporting of the 20th century was based on fraud and forgery, which couldn't, prior to the development of the internet, be exposed?

History marches on. I tend to agree with those who think this changes the nature of journalism forever. No one I have spoken to in person or on the internet fails to grasp what the main issue of the Dan Rather/faked Guard documents story is.