Varanasi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday, April 4, accused previous governments of “facilitating cheating, saying that before 2017, “education was not on the government’s agenda”.

Questioning the situation before 2017, Adityanath said, “Education was neither on the government’s agenda” nor was there any concern, as their own people were “facilitating cheating”.

“To enable this cheating, it was essential for them that no actual teaching or learning took place within the schools, irrespective of the adverse impact this might have on the children,” Adityanath said.

Speaking at the inauguration of the School Chalo Abhiyan in Varanasi, Adityanath said that to implement social justice at the ground level, everyone needs to be educated.

Listing the reasons for children dropping out of schools after Class 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th before 2017, Adityanath said, “Whenever I travelled along any road, I would observe children roaming about throughout the day.”

Upon being asked, “Why are you wandering around? Why aren’t you going to school?” he said, people would reply that “the school is too far away”.

After collecting and analysing data from the entire state, a conclusion emerged that the reason for not attending school was the absence of toilets, no separate toilets for boys and girls and no provision for drinking water, the chief minister said.

Highlighting the decline in dropout rate from 19 per cent to mere three per cent, Adityanath said he felt a sense of pride inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and under whose guidance separate toilet facilities for boys and girls, as well as drinking water arrangements, have now been established in almost all schools under the Basic Education Council.

Adityanath also urged the officials and teachers associated with the Basic Education Council to work towards bringing this dropout rate down to zero.

“This will serve as an exemplary model for you. You can cite this as an example to others, and it will stand as a success story for the Department of Basic Education. Bear in mind the magnitude of the funds allocated — in Uttar Pradesh, we spend a sum exceeding Rs 80,000 crore on school education,” Adityanath said.