December 1 —The beheaded body of Satya Kinkar Hansda, a teacher of Purulia Vivekananda High School, was found in the forests of Goaltore in West Midnapore. He, too, was killed by the Maoists.

An alarming trend has been noticed in the recent past with teachers of primary and secondary schools in Jangalmahal becoming the soft targets for the Maoists.

According to the All Bengal Teachers’ Association, more than 18 primary and five secondary school teachers have been killed in the recent past in Jangalmahal.

Unlike government offices and police stations, schools are left unguarded where armed Maoists walk in at ease and either shoot teachers in front of the students or abduct them at gunpoint.

Utpal Roy, ABTA general secretary, said: “The government offices in the Maoist-affected areas are protected by security forces unlike the schools.”

The Maoists also extort money from the school teachers on a regular basis. “The teachers are threatened everyday by the Maoists and are forced to pay them a part of their salary on a regular basis. They pay as they want to live. The police can do nothing,” Roy added.

A school teacher from Jhargram said: “We have no other way but to pay one-third of our salary. This keeps us and our families safe. They come at the beginning of every month and take the money.”

“We are all living in the shadow of the Maoists’ guns. Most of our fellow teachers have even stopped going to the schools. It is the students who suffer. Some of us were CPM party members but now everyone has given up their membership. Then why are we being targeted?” added the teacher.

In the three Maoist-affected districts of Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore, Maoists go on targeting the school teachers, alleging that they are police informers. Many teachers at one point of time were CPM members, which is considered as one of the reasons for the Maoists’ ire.

Bhupinder Singh, Director General of Police, said: “It is an act of desperation on the part of the Maoists who are abducting ordinary school teachers at gunpoint.”

“There have been incidents where Maoists have entered the school premises and shot the teachers in front of the students,” said Singh.