Raipur: Deep inside a forest in the Naxal hotbed of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh, a residential school is striving to usher in a new dawn in the lives of children affected by Maoist violence.
The school, called 'Panchsheel Ashram', is home to 132 students, including 71 girls, who are preparing for a future away from the shadow of gun.
The school is the brainchild of 49-year-old former teacher K Madhukar Rao, one of the founder members of the now defunct anti-Maoist militia movement 'Salwa Judum'.
His vision to bring about a change in the Naxal-prone area and to prevent indoctrination of the young minds led him to set up the institution in 2008 in the Kutru village, located 450 km from the state capital Raipur.
"The tribal children are exploited by Maoists due to their illiteracy and ignorance," he told PTI, adding that education will surely empower them and prevent them from being misguided by the anti-social elements.
He recalled that when he was nine years old, his father had shifted from their native village Farsegarh to Kutru in the late 1970s.
In 1993, Rao started working as an assistant teacher in a government-run school in Nelasnar village, he said.
Around the same time, Naxals were spreading their tentacles in south Bastar region. The villagers, who were sending their children to schools, and even teachers had to face the wrath of Naxals, he said.
Despite facing threats from rebels, Rao continued with his teaching profession.
But in 2005, the continuous Naxal incidents in the area prompted him to raise his voice against the insurgents and he become a part of the Salwa Judum, which means "peaceful gathering for a hunt" in the tribal Gondi dialect, he said.