aurangabad a silent revolution is taking place in the remote naxaliteprone villages of aurangabad district government schools have opened up in several villages and for a change naxalites are allowing them to function overcoming their fears that the schools could at some stage serve as camps for the security forces ganjoi and deo bigha villages situated in the southern part of the district about 60km from the district headquarters town now boast of government schools the two villages are near the border of bihar and jharkhand which are divided by a range of hills under deo police station and west ketaki panchayat koel canal separates 90 villages of the area from other parts of the district during this reporters recent visit to ganjoi village riku chinku rati kamal sunil and their friends were among the children who stood in queue for morning prayer clutching their pens and pencils they are the first generation of village kids receiving education what is all the more remarkable is the fact that many of them are the children of erstwhile maoists who took up arms in their childhood but now they are allowing the government to open schools during our childhood nobody told us that education is important and we took up arms day in and day out we fought the security forces i have seen my mother dying of starvation and i do not want the same to happen with my grandchildren my son is a maoist he does not come home but the security forces dont believe me i took the initiative to help officials to open a primary school at deo bigha last year said narayan bhuiya 70 kusum devi an anganwadi worker said i have admitted my elder son to ketaki middle school this year the other male members of my family had joined the rakshas sena but they never pay a single penny to us then why should i let my son join them poverty grips the villagers their only ray of hope is their new generation they send their kids to schools thinking they would at least get midday meal and a uniform but several times the maoists come down from the hills and force us to serve them the midday meal often they take away grains and other ration we have no sympathy for them but have to follow their diktats said sunil ranjan a teacher at ganjoi primary school incidentally maoists take shelter in hasua sijua hills and used to prevent the state government from entering the villages to open schools but since 2007 a number of villages have witnessed opening of schools two years back the maoists had blown up the twostoried ketaki middle school fearing that security forces could camp there according to a crpf official the rebels dont want doublestoried buildings as their height would give clear visibility to the security forces the school had to be later shifted to another place about two months ago the maoists had blown up a part