Apna Dal (K) stages protest in Lucknow against merger of primary schools

Hundreds of workers and leaders of the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) staged a protest here on Tuesday against the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to shut down and merge primary schools across the state.

Led by party leader and MLA Pallavi Patel, the demonstrators gathered at the party's central office in Lalbagh in the afternoon and marched towards the state assembly in a pre-scheduled protest rally. The protesters were stopped near Darul Shafa by police, and a memorandum addressed to the Governor was submitted by party representatives.

''The BJP government's decision to shut down and merge primary schools is a direct attack on the foundational structure of rural education. This is a calculated move to snatch away the Right to Education from the children of the poor and marginalised communities,'' Patel told a gathering. ''This government move is not only unjust but also unconstitutional and the entire Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is being derailed before achieving its objectives,'' she alleged. School closures will affect girls' education in rural areas and will push them out of the education system. BJP's slogan of 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' now stands fully exposed, she said.

Raising slogans such as ''BJP sarkar sharm karo - shiksha par hamla band karo'' (Shame on BJP government - stop attacking education), ''Sharab ki dukaan gali-gali, school gaon se door chali'' (Liquor shops in every lane, schools pushed out of villages), and ''Merger nahi sudhar chahiye, har gaon ko phir se school chahiye'' (We want reform, not merger - every village must have a school again), the protesters expressed strong resentment towards the state's education policy.

Patel, who contested the 2022 elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket and defeated Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya from the Sirathu seat, emphasised that every child is entitled to free and compulsory education, with a primary school within a one-kilometre radius and an upper primary school within three kilometres, citing the RTE Act.

Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) will not tolerate such actions at any cost and will intensify its agitation through a phased state-wide movement until the government rolls back the school merger policy, she asserted.

The initiative was undertaken by the state government to 'pair' schools with low enrolment, aimed at pooling resources, improving infrastructure, and aligning with the goals of the National Education Policy 2020.

The policy, recently upheld by the Allahabad High Court, has set in motion the pairing of over 10,000 of the 1.3 lakh government-run primary schools across the state and merging schools with fewer than 50 students into nearby institutions.

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