One February morning, a group of government officials, accompanied by several local residents, set out on a gruelling five-hour trek, navigating narrow paths through hilly terrain and crossing streams without a bridge or a boat. Their destination was a remote village in Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmad — a region that had been under Maoist control for years and acted as the de facto headquarters for the banned Maoist party’s leadership. The officials, Block Education Officer, Block Resource Coordinator and Cluster Coordinator, were being taken by the village sarpanch and some residents to Karkebeda village, under Ghamandi Gram Panchayat, to set up a school there. The village, 70 km from Narayanpur district headquarters, does not have road connectivity, doesn’t appear on Google Maps, and until February, was not linked to the state’s education system. The officials set up a primary school in a temporary shed equipped with a blackboard, and gave 20 children textbooks, slates and pencils. A local teacher, Runita Pawe, was appointed to run the school. Three months later, the government has now sanctioned the construction …