SP MPs urge Centre to intervene in closure, merger of schools in UP
Samajwadi Party
MPs on Wednesday raised the issue of closure of 26,012 primary schools and merger of another 5,000 schools by UP govt in Parliament and sought Centre's intervention to protect the right to education of the poor.
The party also announced that it will adopt the route of an agitation to oppose this move of the state govt.
SP MP from Azamgarh Dharmendra Yadav said right to education was introduced by the Centre hence the Union govt cannot shy away from its responsibility of ensuring the poor are not deprived of this right.
He said by closing and merging thousands of primary schools the state govt will deprive the poor of the opportunity to send their children to schools.
"In Uttar Pradesh, 26012 primary schools have been closed, 5000 of them have been merged, and appointments of over 2 lakh teachers have been stalled. Children from poor families and those from the PDA community are being deprived of the right to education. At the same time more than 27000 liquor stores are opened. This needs to be addressed," Dharmendra said.
Apart from Dharmendra Yadav, other SP MPs including Anand Bhadauria, Naresh Uttam Patel, Lalji Verma, Neeraj Maurya and Priya Saroj also raised the issue.
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The MPs pointed out that the Union govt also contributes towards the budget for education in every state hence the Centre cannot keep mum on the issue and must intervene.
They said UP govt was not abiding by the law on right to education passed by the Centre. Children from the poor sections of the society including the Dalit, tribals and those from the backward classes were being denied their right to education. People of the state will not accept this, they said.
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