It was perhaps the first ever Kathak performance residents of Sukma had seen in their area. In a district that has recorded the maximum Maoist violence in the country, the show of classical dance gained more significance as it came from tribal students from government hostels. It was also a major victory for the district administration that is always fighting to keep schoolkids away from the Maoist ranks. “At least 2000 students fail to return from home after summer vacations every year. We then thought of holding these cultural activities just before the vacations as a means to increase retention. The results are very encouraging. I believe the dropout ratio will come down drastically this year,” Sukma Collector Niraj Bansod told The Indian Express. [related-post] The district administration hired 96 specialists from various states to educate children in as many 16 disciplines and arts. As many as 1,800 students from various government hostels in Sukma learnt Kathak, martial arts, handicrafts, clay modelling and soft-toy making for a fortnight. “I am taking these toys back home. I will show them to my family,” a girl, who made a table lamp out of a cold drink bottle, told The Indian Express. But the real show-stealer was the Kathak performance that took place on May 23 as Sukma became the first district in Chhattisgarh to organise summer camps at such massive scale. Sukma is only the second district in the Maoist zone of Chhattisgarh that is developing a cluster of various education institutions at the district headquarters. It was four years ago that the Dantewada administration had given a similar push for educational infrastructure with a firm belief that “education is the best mode for curbing Maoism”. The Education City conceptualised by the Dantewada administration was listed among the top urban global infrastructure projects by KPMG. Sukma is gradually following the model. It already has a livelihood college, an institute for engineering, a 1,000-seat school for girls and medical coaching institute. Another ambitious programme is of a cluster of residential schools in villages. Four primary schools clusters are slated to come up at ten remote locations, while clusters for higher secondary schools are planned at block level, along highways.
