Disillusioned Maoist turns to teaching

Nanda Singh, a Maoist rebel has taken to the teaching profession, educating poor children free of cost, after being left disillusioned by Maoist ideology and extremist activities.

A resident of Jehanabad district, Singh joined the Maoists in 1995, with the aim of serving the poor and to have access to their basic rights.

He was arrested with a huge cache of arms and ammunitions on the charges of abduction and murder.

Singh said he realised later that only education can facilitate in transforming the life of the poor and he decided to follow the non-violent means for serving the society.

“In 1995, I joined the Maoist group. I had a passion of helping the poor but after joining their group I realised that the poor cannot be helped by holding arms in our hands, till they are not educated,” said Singh.

So, I contemplated in the jail, I read books written on Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa and they used to follow non-violence. This inculcated in me the feeling of helping the poor and I made them my idols,” he added.

The school run by Singh was started in 2010 and at present there are three such schools running in the nearby villages, where poor children are provided free education along with food and books.

The money given by the villagers to provide food and books finances the schools run by Singh.