Why were schools targeted in the Bastar rebellion?

Correct answer: They were seen as symbols linked with colonial authority

The Bastar rebellion was directed not only against individual officials but also against institutions that represented colonial rule. Schools established or controlled under the colonial system could be viewed by rebels as signs of outside authority and a changing system imposed on local society. In the wider pattern of the rebellion, public buildings and administrative institutions became targets because they stood for government power and its forest policies.

The correct choice is A. Schools were not attacked because they were fields, trees, ships, or any other object listed in the remaining choices. The question tests the idea of symbolic targets: an institution may be attacked because of what it represents, not because of its physical form. Here, schools were associated with the colonial administrative order. This does not mean that learning itself was rejected; rather, the action expressed anger against institutions connected with foreign control and interference in local life.