VARANASI / LUCKNOW | Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Uttar Pradesh Prabhari and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Tuesday called out the BJP government and local administration in PM Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi over the closure of a government school in the Koniya area while showing it as operational on official records. Calling it a major betrayal of the children of Banaras and an “administrative fraud”, Sanjay Singh questioned how a school shut on the ground continues to be listed as “operational” on the government’s U-DISE (Unified District Information System for Education) portal.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh stated, “When AAP spokesperson Mukesh Singh exposed this fraud and made a video showing the deteriorating condition of the school, the administration treated him like a big mafia figure. Sending a heavy police force to arrest him shows that the government is becoming dictatorial to hide its shortcomings. Is raising one’s voice for children’s education a crime? The administration is pretending to be innocent and using ‘shifting’ as an excuse, while the reality is that the education of hundreds of children has been disrupted midway.”
Taking a jibe at the administration’s claims, he said, “The school building was declared dilapidated and closed three years ago in the name of repairs. Even after three years, the repairs have not been completed, which raises questions about the government’s intentions. It seems as though PM Modi and CM Yogi are having diamonds and pearls embedded in this school, because it is taking even longer than the Taj Mahal.” He revealed that poor and Dalit children were being deliberately deprived of education under the pretext of repairs.
Directly challenging the Yogi Government, Sanjay Singh stated, “The utilisation of the ₹604 crore released for repairing schools must be visible on the ground. I am giving an ultimatum that if repair work does not begin within one month at this school in Koniya and other schools, the Aam Aadmi Party will once again launch a campaign to make videos and expose the reality. Let the government register not one but a thousand FIRs, but the fight for the rights of children will not stop.”
Meanwhile, party spokesperson Mukesh Singh stated, “The administration’s allegation that I am spreading confusion is laughable, because the actual confusion is being created by the government portal, which is showing the closed school as operational. We demand that the school shifted to Koniya Satti be rebuilt at its original location so that children in the area do not have to wander around and can receive proper education.”
