Maoist diktat in Bihar: Send kids to school

Marking a departure, Maoist guerrillas in Bihar have issued a new and unique diktat — they have ordered poor villagers in Vaishali district to send their children to school.

In a novel move to spread education among the marginalised sections of society, Maoists in Vaishali, about 40km from here, have asked the poor to educate their children instead of making them work. “Maoists also warned them not to engage children in farm or other work and send them to schools,” a villager in Patepur block said.

Patepur is one of the over half a dozen blocks in the district that has been issued diktat by Maoist guerrillas. The other blocks include Mahnar, Jandaha, Mahua, Lalganj and Hajipur. Maoists have pasted posters in several villages in which they have threatened to punish villagers if they failed to send their children to school. The latest Maoist diktat has surprised even district officials. “It is a positive move if Maoist rebels are really keen to force poor parents to send their children to school,” a district official said.link