AAP launches 'School Theek Karo' campaign

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday launched a campaign called 'School Theek Karo Abhiyaan' (fix schools campaign) to highlight the condition of government schools in Uttar Pradesh. The party released a helpline number and urged people to send videos of schools in their areas. AAP MP and Uttar Pradesh in-charge Sanjay Singh presented video evidence from 55 government schools across the state, claiming they showed leaking roofs, broken toilets, and lack of desks and benches in districts including Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Noida, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, and Mahoba.

Singh challenged the state government's claims of transforming schools under 'Operation Kayakalp'. He questioned why the government would be reluctant to showcase schools if the work had actually been carried out. He also alleged that the BJP government's claims regarding schools were false.

Allegations of missing schools

In a separate statement, Singh claimed that five primary schools in Jaunpur district had "disappeared" - Primary School Dhalger Tola, Primary School Misirpur, Kanya Composite School Gagan Arjani, Primary School Urdu Bazaar, and Primary School Bagh Hasan. According to Singh, these schools had no buildings, students, or teachers on the ground, yet were shown as operational in government records. He said a letter from the City Education Officer stated there was no trace of the schools, and that they had been operating from rented buildings which had now been handed back to owners.

Singh challenged the Uttar Pradesh government and BJP leaders to find any of the five schools, offering a reward of Rs 1 lakh. "Today, I am bringing to light an extraordinary and unique case involving the Yogi government," Singh said. "The UP government's U-DISE portal shows the schools as operational and the double-engine government claims that they are functioning. However, there is no trace of the building itself."

Criticism of Yogi Adityanath government

Singh also criticized Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, saying the videos showed the poor state of schools despite the 'Operation Kayakalp' initiative. He alleged that the government was trying to hide the reality of schools by banning outsiders from entering them, calling such an order a "Tughlaqi farman". Singh said, "They want Indians to remain illiterate, so they can stay a blind devotee. Yogi knows that spreading hatred in the name of religion wins votes, so instead of focusing on schools and roads, he is pursuing a politics of dividing society."

He claimed that the attempt to hide the reality of these schools proved that massive corruption had taken place in the name of 'Operation Kayakalp'. The party said it would show videos from four other regions on Sunday and set up an exhibition of videos and photographs to highlight the state of government schools in UP.

Campaign details

The campaign includes a helpline number (8382928009) for people to send videos of government schools. AAP said workers would contact those who submit information and use the material to highlight the condition of schools. In a social media post, the party said, "The Aam Aadmi Party's 'School Theek Karo' campaign has exposed the shortcomings of government schools in Western Uttar Pradesh! Fellow citizens of Uttar Pradesh, make a video of the dismal condition of the government school near you and send it to this number."