IN its latest issue, Tehelka news magazine has come up with a report referring the Sangh as owning one of the fastest growing educational projects that too in the Maoist-affected regions. The report claims that the sewa activities of the Sangh-associated organisations have ousted the Christian missionaries’ decades old dominance in the field of education. The report credits the Sangh for reaching out to Vanvasis in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and north-eastern states.
It adores the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation as the most successful project that runs 34,343 schools which, collectively, have 9,62,485 students. The report says, “A quick search on the Internet reveals the presence of the Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation in places like Portland (Michigan) and Baltimore in the United States.”
The report puts the VHP’s Sewa Trust of having 3,266 educational projects spread across the country. Out of this, nearly 1,050 Bal Sanskar Kendras reach out to children in the age group of three to seven. About 146 Balwaris and 593 primary schools are there. The report expresses surprise on the fact that most of these service activities have reached deep into the regions that have well-rooted ideological opponents (Maoists) of RSS. The report backs this claim by showing the following facts: Chattisgarh has 2,490 Ekal Vidyalayas, while Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and the north-east have 1,590, 2,160, 1,534 and 2,681 such schools. With the exception of West Bengal, they all have sizeable presence of Maoists and other insurgent groups.
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