Officer suspended as kids can't read Hindi

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday suspended an education official when he found that the students of a government school failed to read even a word from their Hindi book.

According to the sources, Akhilesh, who was on a visit to Shravasti, about 300 kilometres from here, reached a primary school and asked the students to read a chapter from their Hindi book.

To his shock, only one of the eleven students could read the book. The rest could not read a word. A visibly upset chief minister immediately ordered suspension of the Basic Education Officer of the district.

Akhilesh said the state spent Rs 20,000 crore on primary education every year and yet the children could not read their mother tongue. An angry Akhilesh squarely blamed the teachers for such a sorry state of affair and said the primary teachers were ''ruining'' the future of the students.