The ripples of the escalating showdown between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over education development in government have reached Uttar Pradesh.
A direction was issued by UP’s Pratapgarh’s Basic Siksha Adhikari (BSA) to all the schools in the district not to allow anyone, including journalists, inside the school premises if they do not have the authority letter and proper identification proof. “And in case, if they have the identity proof, restrict them from clicking any pictures,” the letter said.
The letter, dated September 6, was addressed to principals of government schools. It said, “Some persons entered schools by concealing their identity introducing themselves as journalists. They clicked pictures of teachers and students and asked details about the school. They also trespassed the kitchen shed.”
The letter added: “…No journalist without the ID proof should be allowed. If they have, then they should not be allowed to take the photos.”
Responding to this, AAP MP Sanjay Singh tweeted that the UP government was scared of the AAP’s ‘Selfie with Sarkari School’ campaign and that’s why it issued such a direction.
“Arvind Kejriwal says come and see schools. Yogi ji (UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath) says no permission in schools.”
.@AAPUttarPradesh द्वारा चलाये गये #SelfieWithSarkariSchool अभियान से घबराकर योगी सरकार ने आदेश जारी किया किसी को स्कूल न देखने दें।@ArvindKejriwal जी कहते हैं “आइये स्कूल देखिये”
योगी जी कहते हैं “स्कूल देखना मना है” pic.twitter.com/eOEBsMN0V0— Sanjay Singh AAP (@SanjayAzadSln) September 11, 2022
The AAP has launched a week-long ‘Selfie with Sarkari School’ to expose the conditions of government schools in Uttar Pradesh. The party leaders have claimed that they have got many videos and photos showing the shabby condition of schools in UP.
On September 12, the party will release a video of the whole campaign which they carried out in UP. The party says that it will also launch ‘School Bachao Abhiyaan’ where photo exhibitions will be set up in each district so that they could push the administration to plug the loopholes.
Earlier, the AAP-BJP fight was seen on the streets of the national capital when national spokesperson of both the parties – Saurabh Bhardwaj and Gaurav Bhatia – dared each other to show the ground status of government schools in Delhi.
Two weeks ago, in a news channel TV debate, both had fixed the time and date to visit the schools. Both the leaders made claims and counterclaims.
The AAP leader had claimed that the government has refurbished and upgraded 500 schools in Delhi. However, the BJP leader said that most of it was merely an eyewash.