‘Call the Chief Minister’: 200 School Girls in Lucknow Block Road Over Teacher Shortages
New Delhi: Latest in the series of Gen Alpha protests taking place in Uttar Pradesh, nearly 200 girls from the Jai Prakash Narayan Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Lucknow blocked the Lucknow-Dubbaga Bypass on Monday (August 17) to protest against teacher shortages.
The protest came days after boys from the same school had blocked Mohan Road to protest against similar issues. The Jai Prakash Narayan Sarvodaya Vidyalaya operates separate campuses for boys and girls.
Monday’s protest
The girls formed a human chain on the busy stretch while some sat in front of vehicles, bringing the traffic to a standstill, the Indian Express reported. They were protesting against a shortage of teachers, poor-quality food and other issues.
The girls demanded the presence of senior officials on the sport to address their issues and were heard chanting slogans like 'CM ko bulaya jaaye (The chief minister should be called).'
CM ko bulaya jaaye - Gen Alpha in action in Lucknow.
In UP's Lucknow, students of Jai Prakash Narayan Sarvoday girl's school stage protest over lack of teachers. Amid heavy rain, students are on street - sloganing and protesting over their demand. They want the chief minister… pic.twitter.com/PrBeDPdN7q
— Piyush Rai (@Benarasiyaa) August 17, 2026
A team of police officials asked the students to disperse, but around 50 continued blocking the road. Senior officials from the welfare department, which runs the school, then arrived to address the students. The officials returned to the school campus with the girls and heard their problems.
Uttar Pradesh welfare minister Asim Arun acknowledged the girls’ protest against teacher shortages and said that guest faculty had been hired last year to solve the problem. “However, a case was filed before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court regarding the continuation of guest teachers, due to which these teachers could not be engaged for the past one year,” he was quoted by the Indian Express as saying.
Also read: Uttar Pradesh: Gen Alpha Students March to DM’s Office Demanding Paved Road to School
“We are hopeful that the court may pass an order tomorrow. Once the order is issued, we will bring back guest teachers and take necessary steps to address the issues raised by the court in selection of these teachers,” Arun said.
The minister also assured action against officials who were responsible for the absence of teachers in school for the past month-and-a-half.
On August 14, Arun was caught in the traffic jam caused by the boys’ protest against similar issues. He had also spoken to the students that day.
‘BJP has ruined the education system’
Training guns on the Yogi Adityanath government, the Samajwadi Party wrote on X: “After Gen Z, now Gen Alpha is also on the streets — this is clear proof of how much the BJP has ruined the education system.”
“Instead of educating children, making them highly literate, and providing them jobs and employment, the BJP wants to turn them into bonded labourers; destroying the education system is a grand BJP conspiracy, therefore raise your voice against the BJP, remove the BJP from power,” it added.
The Uttar Pradesh Congress said, “This is not just a sit-in by the girls; it is the voice of a new generation questioning the system.”
The protests by the students of Jai Prakash Narayan Sarvodaya Vidyalaya comes days after nearly 200 school children and their parents carried out a protest march in Uttar Pradesh’s Chandupur village on August 11 to demand the construction of a paved road to their school.
Protests over education and basic infrastructure-related issues have also been reported in Fatehpur, Hamirpur and Kannauj, the Indian Express reported.
This article went live on August eighteenth, two thousand twenty six, at fifty-five minutes past one in the afternoon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
