Govt school 'admits' convent student to chat with Clinton

Uttar Pradesh officials resorted to “impersonation” to “impress” former US president Bill Clinton during the latter’s visit to a government school at Mohanlalganj near the state capital last week.

Fearing that the students of the government school may get “exposed”, the officials made a student of a prestigious convent school attend Clinton’s programme during which he interacted with the students.

Taking a serious view of the incident, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has ordered a thorough inquiry into the matter. “It is a serious matter...we will hold a probe and punish the guilty,” Akhilesh told reporters here on Thursday.

According to the sources, Clinton, who had plans to visit a junior high school at Mohanlalganj, had interacted with the students at the school. The authorities had made every effort to impress the former US president.

They had set up new electric poles and had also repaired the four-km-long road leading to the village. Even the school building where the programme was to be held, was repaired and painted.

But they knew well that they could not “transform” the students overnight, given the state of affairs at the government school. So they devised a plan. Reports said that the officials roped in a convent student and included him in the group that interacted with Clinton. The student, according to the sources, was enrolled in the school overnight though only for a day.

The next day, the student in question returned to his real school, raising eyebrows.
A three-member committee has been set up to inquire into the matter. “The committee will submit its report within a week,” said a senior official here.

Clinton, whose Clinton Foundation has been providing healthcare training and in particular about oral re-hydration for treating diarrhoea, had a first hand knowledge of the project being run by the NGO at Jabarauli village.