Students of Uttar Pradesh Village School Boycott Classes Citing Dilapidated Building

PTI says that a media team visited the school later and found that indeed, a beam supporting the ceiling was severely damaged, and walls had plaster peeling off.

The Wire Staff

PTI says that a media team visited the school later and found that indeed, a beam supporting the ceiling was severely damaged, and walls had plaster peeling off.

students of uttar pradesh village school boycott classes citing dilapidated building

Representational image of a school in session. Photo: Barry Pousman from New York, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

New Delhi: Students of a government primary school in Uttar Pradesh's Bhamori Khurd village boycotted classes on September 9 in protest against the dilapidated condition of the building, the PTI news agency has reported.

The report notes that the school is in the Atrauli assembly constituency, which is incidentally represented by Minister of State for Basic Education (independent charge) Sandeep Singh.

PTI says that a media team visited the school later and found that indeed, a beam supporting the ceiling was severely damaged, walls had plaster peeling off and that the premises were overgrown with bushes, where the students said snakes often roam.

Last year, seven children died and 21 were injured after a school in Rajasthan collapsed.

This protest by the students comes after similar demonstrations by school students in Fatehpur, Hamirpur, Kannauj and Lucknow over basic infrastructure.

The school protests, by young teenagers, follows the historic protests in Jantar Mantar against the irregularities of the NEET which rippled nationwide and led to the resignation of the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

The Cockroach Janata Party, which led a part of the New Delhi protests, has begun a drive to invite attention to government schools titled 'School thik karo,' which translates to 'fix the schools.'

The drive has encountered resistance of across Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states. In West Bengal, a CJP volunteer’s school inspection was followed by a violent attack on his family in which his father died. In Rajasthan, CJP workers faced confrontation during inspections before the government moved to restrict outsiders from entering schools and recording what they found. In Maharashtra, where the campaign began, its founder Abhijeet Dipke was himself booked after inspecting a government school in Latur.

This article went live on September tenth, two thousand twenty six, at seventeen minutes past twelve at noon.

The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.