Scene 1: Renu Kumari (8), Sinku Kumari (7) and Pato Kumari (8) are Class III students of the government middle school at Charkapathar in Jamui district and never miss their classes. The paradox is that the institute has stopped functioning after Maoists demolished major portions of the school building last year. Everyday, the three girls go to their damaged classrooms with their books and copies, take their seats on dusty, broken benches, wait for hours for their teachers and finally return home without learning any lesson. But they are optimistic that the situation will change some day.

Scene 2: Bulbul Mishra is 12 and has studied till Class VII at a government middle school in Sono. Her sisters Choti (9) and Joli (6) also used to study at a government primary school at Thamman village. But it is almost a year since Bulbul, Choti and Joli went to school last time. Ever since police caught their father, Satish Chandra Mishra, a suspected Maoist leader, last year, their tryst with education seems to be over. Bulbul is angry with the cops. But the dreamer in her continues to live and wait for the day when she can return to school, get educated and become an officer.

Renu and Bulbul are not the only children in Jamui who have suffered the most as the Maoists continued to target schools.

Renu, Sinku or Pato might not remember the date when the rebels demolished their school. But Yodhan Yadav, their father, still shudders to recall what happened on February 6, 2011. “The rebels raided the village and mercilessly beat up the residents. They demolished the building of the government middle school. We requested them not to target the school. But they said there was no question of sparing the school because paramilitary personnel had stayed there during the last Assembly elections,” Yodhan said.

District magistrate (Jamui) Mayank Warwade said the Maoist menace had a horrible impact on basic education in the hinterland of the district. “We have stopped putting up forces in school buildings following a Supreme Court directive. Plans are afoot to repair the buildings, which have been damaged, at the earliest,” he told The Telegraph.

Inspector-general of police (Bhagalpur zone) A.K. Ambedkar said he was shocked to see the villagers’ plight during his recent visit to Thamman under Sono block.

“I had gone to Thamman to find out the condition of the residents of the village where a Maoist ‘area commander’ (Satish Chandra Mishra) lived. I was shocked to see the villagers’ condition. They do not even have access to pure drinking water. The Maoist menace has affected the lives of the residents and the rebels’ families alike,” he told The Telegraph.

“During several meetings between the police and the residents of some remote Jamui villages, I had urged the rebels not to do anything that would affect the education of the underprivileged children. But the rebels went on demolishing schools,” Ambedkar added.

Bulbul has pledged to work hard towards self-reliance and hopes that someday she, along with her two sisters, will return to school. “At present, I don’t have an option but to help my mother in rolling bidis. We get Rs 45 for making 1,000 bidis in 5-6 hours,” Bulbul said. Her two sisters are also engaged in making bidis along with their mother.

Satish’s wife, Shila Devi, accused the police of falsely implicating him in the murder of a village guard and arresting him on April 29, 2011. “I don’t have any alternative livelihood to support the family in my husband’s absence. I don’t have enough money for the treatment of my four-year old boy Sudhansu,” she said.