RSS to set up schools, health centers in tribal district of Bihar

Ranchi – The Hindu nationalist organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates have decided to open schools and health care centers in each of the five blocks in the tribal–dominated Khunti subdivision in Ranchi district.

Speaking to the English national daily, The Telegraph, Dayanand foundation organizer–cum–coordinator Nirmal Kumar Singh said that Khunti subdivision was chosen by the RSS after they observed that the churches are most influential and active in the tribal region and have made an impact among tribal societies by health and educational institutions.

“To spread its influence among tribals, the churches have picked on health, education and socio–economic development. This has gained them quick inroads into the tribal societies. We have also decided to follow it,” he said.

However, the rector of St Albert’s College, C.R. Prabhu, welcomed the developments “as a positive signal”.

“We are not in competition with anybody. We are happy that the good work of educating tribals has been taken up by the RSS and its affiliated organizations,” he added.

Four such schools have already been made operational in Khunti, Torpa, Karra and Murhu blocks with efforts on to set up another such school in the Khunti subdivision at the earliest.

Barring the state capital, which already boasts of five DAV (Dayanand Anglo Vedic) schools, two such schools have been set up at Khijri and Bundu.

Singh said each of their school would be either affiliated to the CBSE, Delhi or with the Jharkhand Board of Secondary Education, though a final decision was yet to be taken. Both English and Hindi would be the medium of instruction.

Khunti subdivision is being serviced by all the prominent churches — Roman Catholic, Gossner Evangelical Lutheran, Church of North India (CNI), Pentecoastal Church and others.