UP govt says school infrastructure improved since 2017; no rise in primary enrolment in 2024-25

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government has improved the infrastructure of several schools, which it found in dilapidated conditions in 2017, through Operation Kayakalp, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Basic Education Sandeep Singh informed the state assembly on Tuesday.

The BJP came to power in the state in 2017, defeating Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. It retained power in the 2022 assembly polls. He said that 65 per cent of the schools have been equipped with furniture, and a target of 100 per cent has been set for this year.

In response to a question from Samajwadi Party's (SP) Samar Pal Singh, he said that before the implementation of the National Education Policy in the Basic Education Department, a provision was made that the medium of instruction should be English. Approximately 12,279 schools were started with English as the medium of instruction, the minister informed.

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Primary schools upgraded to composite schools

He said, "Since the National Education Policy has been implemented, it has been clarified that the medium of instruction should be the mother tongue, local language, and regional language. Since its implementation, English has been taught as a subject in the government schools of Uttar Pradesh ."

"The honourable member raised the issue of furniture, but he forgot that during their time (SP government), no school had furniture facilities. It is our government that launched Operation Kayakalp and transformed the dilapidated condition of schools that existed in 2017,” Minister Singh said.

Responding to a question from SP members Dr Ragini Sonkar and Brijesh Katheria regarding the number of children in schools, the minister said that there has been no increase in the number of children in primary schools in 2024-25 compared to 2023-24 because many primary schools have been upgraded to composite schools offering classes from grade one to grade eight.

He also responded to a question from SP members Sachin Yadav and Prabhu Narayan, and informed the House that the government will consider formulating a concrete policy to conduct examinations regularly and complete the recruitment process for vacant teacher positions in primary schools within a stipulated time frame.