Plight of Primary Education in Capital Lucknow
By: Vikas Mavi
12 October, 2022 (New Delhi): Education has always been one of the top priorities for the Yogi government. Biometric attendance, counselling portals, and curriculum updates are some of the many reforms taken by the state government to ensure quality education. However, in the heart of Uttar Pradesh, Lucknow, the plight of primary education remains unchecked. The news coming from Lucknow’s Dhanori Prathmik Vidayalay has made a shocking revelation about the management of the school. As per the information shared by villagers on condition of anonymity. News Leak Centre (NLC) has learnt about alleged fake records made to validate meetings that never happened. These allegations pertain to the organising committee of Prathmik Vidhyala Dhanori, BKT Lucknow. If sources are to be believed, no meetings of the organising committee took place between 2013 and 2018. Yet the records validating the occurrence of these meetings were present, along with the signatures and thumb impressions of the members of the organising committee. The source told NLC that all the records were fake, including the signatures and thumb impressions of the members. If these allegations are true, then this reveals a serious gap in our education system. As a school’s organising committee is in charge of all the development and welfare projects, such as meals, uniforms, infrastructure upgrades, and other amenities for the students. The committee manages huge sums of money allocated by the state government for the wellbeing of students.
News leak centre tried to reach out to the members of the committee, but none were ready to comment on the matter. Hence, we contacted Mr. Arun Kumar, Basic Shiksha Adhikari, Lucknow, who said, ” The organising committee is headed by the school principal. whereas the members are selected from the parents of the students. We will look into the matter, and the responsible people will be punished.”
The matter is serious as it not only relates to the management of funds but also the subject in question is children’s education. The money, which was meant to be spent for the betterment of the students to provide them with better facilities, was allegedly mishandled. That too, with the help of forged documents having fake signatures and thumb impressions.
The UP government’s madrasa survey is going on across the state, but this incident suggests that there might also be a need for a statewide survey of primary schools in UP. Since, if the allegations are true, then there might be more such cases in the state. Hopefully, the Yogi Govt. will take immediate action against the culprits as it does in every matter. Primary education is the first step to a child’s growth. But when there’s a gap in the first stage itself, one can’t really expect such students to become scholars.