Akhilesh Yadav alleges 26,000 government primary schools shut in UP since 2017

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday claimed that more than 26,000 government primary schools in Uttar Pradesh have been closed since the BJP came to power in 2017, alleging that the administration is deliberately denying education to children from the Backward, Dalit and Minority communities.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Lucknow, Mr. Yadav said the Samajwadi Party would raise the issue during the Monsoon Session of the state Assembly, which begins on Monday.

The former Chief Minister cited official data to state that Uttar Pradesh had 1,13,938 government primary schools until March 2017. He claimed that over 26,000 of these have been shut since then.

According to Mr. Yadav, the highest number of closures took place in Lakhimpur Kheri, where 758 schools were shut, followed by Sitapur (650) and Prayagraj (638). In Gorakhpur, the home district of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, around 500 primary schools were closed, he said.

Stating that a majority of students in government primary schools belong to Other Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes, Mr. Yadav alleged that the BJP does not want children from these communities to receive education.

The Samajwadi Party chief said enrolment in government primary schools has declined from 1.17 crore students in 2017 to around 89 lakh in 2026. Of these 89 lakh, about 25 lakh belong to OBC, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe categories, he claimed.

He also said the number of teachers in these schools has fallen from around 4 lakh in 2017 to 3.40 lakh at present, with nearly 81,000 teaching posts lying vacant. Mr. Yadav alleged that the administration is reducing teaching posts because it does not want to provide permanent government jobs, as regular recruitment would require budgetary allocations and implementation of reservation policies.

The closure of government primary schools has adversely affected girls' education, he claimed, with the number of girls studying in these schools declining from 61.57 lakh in March 2017 to around 45 lakh now.

Highlighting infrastructure deficiencies, Mr. Yadav said thousands of schools lack basic facilities. He claimed that around 7,000 schools have no electricity, about 2,300 have no toilets for girls, 576 lack drinking water facilities, and nearly 23,000 have no provision for computer education.

Mr. Yadav said all Samajwadi Party legislators would jointly raise the issue in the Assembly on Monday and corner the government on education, paper leaks, law and order, and alleged corruption.

The state government has not yet responded to these allegations. This report will be updated if a response is received.