Eight surrendered Maoist cadres in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region have cleared the Class 10 examination conducted by the Chhattisgarh State Open School, taking a step towards resuming their education after returning to the mainstream.
Another successful candidate, 31-year-old Santosh Anchla alias Sannu, said he resumed his education after surrendering in October last year. Ramdhar Kashyap, 34, from Kotmeta village in Kondagaon district, is another successful candidate. He said he had dropped out after Class 2 and later joined the Maoist movement after hearing claims that the proposed Bodhghat project on the Indravati river would submerge villages.
Because teachers were not regular and he had to take responsibility for his family as the eldest of four brothers, a resident of Gundul village in Kanker district’s Koyelibeda area, Sannu said he left school after Class 2.
The Class 10 examination was conducted in August, with the results declared last month. Narote, who worked with its medical team and later became a divisional committee member, had dropped out of school after Class 6 following the killing of her father and had to take responsibility for her mother and three younger sisters. The candidates, who appeared for the examination from Jagdalpur, Bijapur and Kanker, had dropped out of school at different stages before joining the Maoist movement.
