Some 140 schools were attacked by militants in 2009-2012, and there was widespread use of schools as barracks or bases by government forces, mostly in the east of the country.

Context

Most attacks on education occurred in states affected by a long-running insurgency led by Maoist and other left-wing armed groups – also referred to as 'Naxalites' – operating in at least 83[730] of India's 600 districts, mainly in the east.[731]

While the Maoists claim they are fighting on behalf of the poorest rural communities in each state, national authorities say they are obstructing desperately needed development initiatives. The exploitation of natural resources and how the profits are distributed are key issues of contention.[732]

Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa were among the states most affected by the conflict in 2008. As part of their insurgency, Maoists attacked government infrastructure, including schools, police stations and armouries, and used landmines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to launch attacks.[733]

Maoist attacks on schools and teachers and security forces' use of school premises in operations against the militants have led to falling attendance and increased drop-out rates, particularly among girls. They have also reduced the quality of education provided to some of the country's most disadvantaged children.[734]

Pockets of tension fuelled by Hindu and Christian extremists in some areas, particularly in the north-east, and low-level insurgency by separatists or terror groups in several states, including in Jammu and Kashmir, have also led to attacks on education.

Net primary enrolment was 93 per cent, gross secondary enrolment was 69 per cent and gross tertiary enrolment was 23 per cent (2011). The adult literacy rate was 63 per cent (2006).[735]

Attacks on schools

The number of attacks by Maoists on schools declined steeply over the 2009-2012 period from a peak in 2009.[736] Human Rights Watch documented attacks by Maoists on at least 36 schools in Jharkhand and 23 schools in Bihar during 2009.[737] The number of attacks appeared to increase in the run-up to Lok Sabha (House of Representatives) elections from April to May 2009.[738] The Home Ministry, in a 2011 report, cited a total of 71 school attacks in 2009, 39 in 2010 and 27 in 2011 across Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Jharkhand.[739] It reported only three incidents in 2012[740] but the perceived risk of attack remained – for example, a school in Balangir, Orissa, was closed for 12 days in September 2012 after a Maoist poster was found pasted on the school, triggering fear among parents and teachers that Maoists would attack.[741]

Maoists frequently cited use of school buildings by security forces as the reason for attacking schools, claiming them to be legitimate military targets. However, Human Rights Watch research found that Maoists had damaged or destroyed numerous schools that were not actually occupied by security forces at the time of attack.[742] Some Maoists justified attacking newly built schools because they believed they would be used to house police carrying out operations against them. In many reported cases, Maoists also claimed to have attacked a school because it was previously rather than currently used by police.[743]

Maoists tended to attack at night, often using cans packed with explosives – though, in at least one case, insurgents set fire to a school's two generators.[744] Destruction from these explosions ranged from minor structural damage to the collapse of entire structures.[745]

For example, in one incident on 9 April 2009, Maoists blew up Belhara High School in Jharkhand. They triggered two dynamite blasts in the evening, leaving holes in the walls of two classrooms, a hole in the first floor and cracks around the building, making it unsafe. It was the tenth government building destroyed in a week during the run-up to elections on 16 April.[746] Following the attack, one or two dozen fewer students attended the school and some classes had to be taken on the school verandas because of the damage.[747] In another incident, on 14 April 2009, a witness told Human Rights Watch that Maoists planted mines in Gosain-Pesra Middle School, Bihar, and blew them up remotely, causing half of the two-storey structure to collapse to the ground.[748]

Seven incidents targeting Christian schools were also reported, primarily by Christian sources, five of them allegedly perpetrated by Hindu militants.[749] For example, on 26 January 2009, a group of Hindutva activists attacked St Mary's School at Kadiri in Andhra Pradesh, destroying the furniture and injuring several of the nuns, purportedly because the school had not hoisted the national flag on Republic Day.[750] Others were attacked, apparently by Muslim protesters. On 16 September 2010, it was reported that one Christian school in Jammu and Kashmir, the Tangmarg branch of Tyndale Biscoe school, was razed to the ground,[751] and another, the Roman Catholic Good Shepherd High School at Pulwama, was burned down during protests over alleged desecrations of the Koran in the United States.[752]

Attacks on school students, teachers and other education personnel

A tally of incidents reported by media and human rights groups indicates that at least 13 teachers,[753] one catering staff member[754] and four students[755] were killed from 2009 to 2012. At least 73 teachers[756] and 11 students[757] were injured. Seven teachers were abducted, five of whom were subsequently found dead,[758] and at least two students were kidnapped.[759]

Maoists were suspected in a number of attacks on teachers and the killing of at least four students. Motives were not always clear but often the Maoists alleged that their victims were police informers. In several cases, it appeared that the teachers were targeted after refusing to cooperate in some way: for example, by declining to send their students for Maoist training, refusing to pay levies to the People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) or removing black flags hoisted outside their schools by Maoists on Republic Day.[760] In one illustrative incident, the head teacher of Indiraboni primary school in West Bengal was reportedly gunned down by three Maoists on motorcycles amid claims that he had prevented students from taking part in rallies organized by Maoists.[761] A number of teachers also seemed to have been targeted because of their affiliations with the Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M). Many teachers refused to work in areas affected by the Maoist conflict out of fear for their safety.[762]

In at least two incidents, suspected Maoists were reported to have killed individuals at schools in front of students and teachers. On 14 September 2009, a group of Maoists shot dead a teacher and CPI-M member in Jamda High School in West Bengal after entering the classroom where he was teaching.[763] On 20 March 2009, a Class 9 student, and son of a police officer who had been killed the previous year, was fatally shot and then stabbed by Maoist guerrillas in front of students at his school in Koyalibeda, in Chhattisgarh.[764]

One media outlet said in August 2012 that children in Maoist-affected areas of Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district were carrying bows and arrows to school, fearing attacks from the insurgents. Local people had been training children to defend themselves because the children had to travel two kilometres to school through thick forests.[765]

Several abductions and killings of teachers by militants from separatist groups were reported in Assam, in most cases after teachers refused to give in to demands for money.[766]

In at least six incidents[767] reported by Christian sources, staff or students at Christian schools were said to have been injured or threatened. For example, on 29 May 2009, Hindu militants allegedly attacked a Christian missionary school in Andhra Pradesh, beating several teachers, telling them not to work in the village and threatening to kill them.[768]

In Jammu and Kashmir, when schools reopened in the Kashmir Valley in late September 2010 after a three-month closure following violence and curfews, separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani reportedly called on parents not to send their children to school and appealed to teachers to stay at home as part of a political protest against alleged civilian deaths during security operations. The chief minister of the state, Omar Abdullah, appealed to separatists not to target schoolchildren for going to school and many students turned up for classes. However, at one school only 100 of the 3,000 pupils turned up amid threats of further violence,[769] and when protests began some schools sent children home because they feared for their safety. Supporters of the separatist movement Hurriyet attacked school buses carrying children to schools. For example, on 7 October 2010, at least three students from a private school in Rainawari, Kashmir, were reportedly injured when a school bus was attacked by protesters throwing stones at it. On the same day, protesters pelted a school bus in Soura, but no injuries were reported. In a later incident in December 2010, Hurriyet supporters ordered a driver and student off a school bus and set it on fire.[770]

Military use of schools

During 2010, more than 129 schools were used as barracks or bases across the country, particularly in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, but also in the country's north-east, in Tripura, Manipur, Nagaland and Assam, disrupting education for an estimated 20,800 students.[771] In the same year, some security forces began complying with government and Supreme Court directives to vacate schools.[772] However, security forces continued to use schools into 2012 and 2013.[773]

According to a 2009 report by Human Rights Watch, police and paramilitary forces occupied school buildings with no prior notification, either temporarily or for extended periods ranging from six months to three years, during their counter-insurgency operations. Some educational facilities had been occupied for over a decade.[774] In many cases, security forces took over entire school facilities and campuses, completely shutting down schools, while in others, they occupied only a part of the school, forcing classes to continue in crowded quarters and alongside armed men.[775]

Attacks on higher education

Attacks on higher education occurred during 2009-2012, but they tended to be isolated incidents, most often linked to students' and academics' political affiliation or activism. One professor at Manipur University was shot dead on campus in May 2009, allegedly because he was the leader of a clique trying to usurp power within the university. An ethnic Meitei terrorist group known as Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup, which launched an 'anti-corruption' campaign in 2001 to 'clean up' the education system in the north-eastern state of Manipur, claimed responsibility for the attack.[776]

Two student trade unionists, including the speaker of the Sumi Students' Union and the former president and advisor to Kiphire Sumi Students' Union, were shot and injured by National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Khaplang militia in Dimapur on 2 May 2009.[777]

Attacks on education in 2013

There were isolated reports of attacks on schools by suspected Maoist fighters[778] and of recruitment of schoolchildren to their ranks,[779] although it was not clear whether this happened on school premises. Minority and marginalized communities continued to suffer violence in education settings. In one incident, at least 20 masked men broke into a Christian school and abducted and raped four girls belonging to the Pahariya tribal group, aged 12 to 14, although it was not clear if the motive was sectarian.[780] One report highlighted the continued siting of paramilitary camps next to schools, this time in Kashmir, and suspected military use of the school in question.[781]

730 Indian Ministry of Home Affairs, "83 Districts in Naxal-Affected States Included Under SRE Scheme," Press Information Bureau, Government of India, 9 March 2011.

731 HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 1; HRW, "India: Protect Civilians in Anti-Maoist Drive," 5 November 2009.

732 HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 8; HRW, "India: Protect Civilians in Anti-Maoist Drive," 5 November 2009.

733 HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 8, 24; HRW, "India: Protect Civilians in Anti-Maoist Drive," 5 November 2009.

734 HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 6.

735 UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), "Education (all levels) Profile – India," UIS Statistics in Brief (2011).

736 HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 3, 50.

737 HRW, Update on webpage of the report: Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States.

738 HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 50.

739 Home Ministry Naxal Management Division, untitled fact sheet on Maoist insurgency: http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/FAQs_NM_241013.pdf.

740 Ibid. See also: UNSC, Children and Armed Conflict: Report of the Secretary-General, A/67/845 – S/2013/245, 15 May 2013, para 183.

741 Sudeep Kumar Guru, "Maoist poster fear hits school," The Telegraph, 18 September 2012.

742 HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 48.

743 Ibid., 49.

744 Ibid., 2-3; and "Naxals attack school building at Taliya," Times of India, 18 November 2009.

745 HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 44.

746 "School building blown up by Maoists in Palamu," Hindustan Times, 10 April 2009; and HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 30-2.

747 HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 76.

748 Ibid., 42-3.

749 Christian Solidarity Worldwide, India: Communalism, anti-Christian violence and the law (Surrey, UK: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, May 2010), 25, 27, 29, 31. For other incidents, see: "India Hindu Militants Attack Missionary School, Christians Say," Worthy News, 8 July 2009.

750 Christian Solidarity Worldwide, India: Communalism, anti-Christian violence and the law (Surrey, UK: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, May 2010), 27.

751 Jim Yardley, "Tensions High Across Kashmir After Koran Protests," New York Times, 14 September 2010; and Vishal Arora, "Gov to aid torched Christian-run school," the media project, 27 September 2010. See also: Yudhvir Rana, "SpeedNews – School opens," Times of India.

752 Aaron J Leichmann, "School Burning Prompts Call for Indian President to Protect Christians," The Christian Post, 16 September 2010.

753 SATP, "Maoists kill three workers of the ruling CPI-M in West Bengal,"15 September 2009; Gethin Chamberlain, "India launches offensive on Naxalite rebels as they near Delhi," The Observer, 6 December 2009; IANS, "Maoist activist held for role in teacher's killing," TwoCircles.net, 2 August 2010; Express News Service, "Maoists Kill Cong Leader in Orissa," The Indian Express, 2 August 2010; "Teacher shot dead in Assam," India Blooms, 20 August 2010; "Teacher killed in front of pupils 'Maoist' bullet for CPM link," The Telegraph, 5 September 2010; IANS, "Two killed by Maoists in West Bengal," sify news, 7 October 2010; Express News Service, "Maoists kill another teacher in Jhargram," The Indian Express, 3 April 2011; Press Trust of India, "Suspected Maoists gun down school teacher," NDTV, 2 April 2011; "Kidnapped teacher killed in Karimganj," TNN, The Times of India, 4 July 2012; SATP, "Incidents Involving Community Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) 2012"; K. A. Gupta, "Three held over murder of teachers," TNN, The Times of India, 20 December 2012; and ANI, "Locals protest over killing of 2 teachers by Maoists," Yahoo! news India, 15 December 2012.

754 Nairita Das, "3 school kids killed in Maoists firing, 8 injured," OneIndia News, 9 October 2010; and Jaideep Hardikar, "We rushed out after the blast... the kids were covered in blood: Villagers in Sawargaon," DNA, 9 October 2010.

755 "Class 9 boy shot and stabbed by Maoists outside school, " Hindustan Times, 20 March 2009; Nairita Das, "3 school kids killed in Maoists firing, 8 injured," OneIndia News, 9 October 2010; and Jaideep Hardikar, "We rushed out after the blast... the kids were covered in blood: Villagers in Sawargaon," DNA, 9 October 2010.

756 "INDIA: Attacks On Christians Continue In Karnataka," 14 January 2009; "Rumour leads to attack on teachers," The Hindu, 3 September 2010; IANS, "An appeal to Maoists, admin to reopen school," Zeenews.com, 15 February 2011; "Cops crack down on Urdu teachers," Times of India, 22 February 2011; Debabrata Mohapatra, "Teachers, cops clash in Bhubaneswar," TNN, The Times of India, 28 March 2012; "Jammu and Kashmir Teachers Strike," Teachersolidarity.com, 12 May 2012; and "Police ignore attack on school: Christian NGO," UCAN India, 16 July 2012; Minati Singha, "Teachers clash with cops, several hurt," TNN, The Times of India, 30 November 2012.

757 "Protesters attack school bus, 3 injured," Hindustan Times, 8 October 2010; Nairita Das, "3 school kids killed in Maoists firing, 8 injured," OneIndia News, 7 October 2010; and Jaideep Hardikar, "We rushed out after the blast... the kids were covered in blood: Villagers in Sawargaon," DNA, 9 October 2010.

758 SATP, "CPI-Maoist abducts school headmaster in West Bengal," 6 March 2010; Express News Service, "Maoists kill another teacher in Jhargram," The Indian Express, 3 April 2011; Press Trust of India, "Suspected Maoists gun down school teacher," NDTV, 2 April 2011; "Kidnapped teacher killed in Karimganj," TNN, The Times of India, 4 July 2012; SATP, "Incidents Involving Community Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) 2012"; K. A. Gupta, "Three held over murder of teachers," TNN, The Times of India, 20 December 2012; and ANI, "Locals protest over killing of 2 teachers by Maoists," Yahoo! news India, 15 December 2012.

759 SATP, "Incidents Involving Community Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) 2012."

760 Achintyarup Ray, "Red Zone Claims 23 Teachers," TNN, The Times of India, 14 April 2011; and "An Appeal to Maoists, Admin to Reopen School," Zeenews.com, 15 February 2011.

761 IANS, "Maoist Activist Held for Role in Teacher's Killing," TwoCircles.net, 2 August 2010.

762 Achintyarup Ray, "Red Zone Claims 23 Teachers," TNN, The Times of India, 14 April 2011.

763 SATP, "Maoists Kill Three Workers of The Ruling CPI-M in West Bengal," 15 September 2009.

764 "Class 9 Boy Shot and Stabbed by Maoists Outside School, " Hindustan Times, 20 March 2009.

765 "Children Carry Bows and Arrows to School, Fearing Maoist Attacks in Jharkhand," ANI News, 30 August 2012.

766 "Kidnapped Teacher Killed in Karimganj," TNN, The Times of India, 4 July 2012; K. A. Gupta, "Three Held Over Murder of Teachers," TNN, The Times of India, 20 December 2012; and "Locals Protest Over Killing of 2 Teachers by Maoists," Yahoo! News India, 15 December 2012.

767 Christian Solidarity Worldwide, India: Communalism, anti-Christian violence and the law (Surrey, UK: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, May 2010), 27-8, 33; "INDIA: Attacks On Christians Continue In Karnataka," UCAN India, 14 January 2009;"India Hindu Militants Attack Missionary School, Christians Say," Worthy News, 8 July 2009; Nirmala Carvalho, "Missionary beaten in Karnataka because Hindus are against education for the poor," AsiaNews.it, 28 October 2010;"Karnataka: BJP threatens opponents to the teaching of Hindu sacred texts in public schools," AsiaNews.it, 20 July 2011; and "Police ignore attack on school: Christian NGO," UCAN India, 16 July 2012.

768 Christian Solidarity Worldwide, India: Communalism, anti-Christian violence and the law (Surrey, UK: Christian Solidarity Worldwide, May 2010), 28; and "India Hindu Militants Attack Missionary School, Christians Say," Worthy News, 8 July 2009.

769 "Kashmir: Huriyat Supporters Attack School Buses," OneIndia News, 28 September 2010; "Omar asks Geelani, separatists not to target school children," The Indian Express, 27 September 2010; and "School bus torched to enforce bandh in J&K," The Times of India, 5 December 2010.

770 "Protests in Srinagar, Islamabad," GK News Network, 7 October 2010; and "School bus torched to enforce bandh in J&K, The Times of India," 5 December 2010.

771 GCPEA, Lessons in War: Military Use of Schools and Other Education Institutions during Conflict (New York: GCPEA, 2012), 30.

772 Ibid., 22.

773 GCPEA and Human Rights Watch, "Submission on the Third and Fourth Periodic Report of India to the Committee on the Rights of the Child," 29 August 2013.

774 HRW, Sabotaged Schooling: Naxalite Attacks and Police Occupation of Schools in India's Bihar and Jharkhand States (New York: HRW, 9 December 2009), 56.

775 Ibid.

776 SATP, "University professor shot dead in Manipur," 27 May 2009. For information on KYKL, see also: http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/states/manipur/terrorist_outfits/kykl.htm.

777 "Two student leaders wounded in Nagaland," Sangai Express, 5 May 2009.

778 The Home Ministry reported three attacks by September, see: Home Ministry Naxal Management Division, untitled fact sheet on Maoist insurgency, http://mha.nic.in/sites/upload_files/mha/files/FAQs_NM_241013.pdf; "Naxals grow bolder, blow up school in Bihar," Rediff, 15 June 2013; IANS, "Maoists blow up school in Bihar," The New Indian Express, 15 June 2013; and ANI, "Fear grips students as Maoists destroy school wall in Jharkhand's Latehar district," 16 March 2013.

779 PRI, "Naxals persuade school children to join their outfits in Jharkhand," The Indian Express, 25 February 2013; and PTI, "Naxalites recruiting school kids in state," Times of India, 4 July 2013.

780 "India: Four girls abducted from a Christian school and gang raped," Vatican Insider, 20 July 2013.

781 Associated Press, "Kashmir militants in deadly attack on Indian security forces," The Guardian, 13 March 2013.

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