'A for Akhilesh, D for Dimple': Lessons in schools started by Samajwadi Party lead to FIR in UP district

Lucknow: They are not like normal schools where the kids are taught A for 'apple' and B for 'boy'.

The Samajwadi Party (SP), whose workers have launched these schools in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, call them ‘PDA’ (Pichda, Dalit, alpsankhyak) schools. Hence it’s no surprise that the kids are taught A for ‘Akhilesh’ (SP president), D for Dimple (Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh’s wife) and M for ‘Mulayam’ (SP founder).

A video purportedly showing a PDA school in UP’s Saharanpur district where the kids are taught the English alphabet in this way went viral on social media platforms.

The ‘PDA’ school was opened by the SP leader Farhad Gara at Naya Gaon in the district.

Several others videos of students being taught in this manner has gone viral too.

The video showed Farhad teaching the kids for whom B stands for Baba Saheb B R Ambedkar, and C for former prime minister Choudhary Charan Singh.

The SP says that these schools have been started in protest against the BJP government’s decision to merge the government schools where the number of students are less with bigger schools.

SP president Alhilesh Yadav had recently asked the party workers to start ‘PDA Pathshalas’ (schools) to ‘educate’ the children. He asked the SP leaders to start these schools in those villages where the government schools are being closed and employ retired teachers and party supporters there.

‘’This government is depriving the poor students of their right to education….we will not allow that,’’ said an SP leader here.

UP police have registered a case against SP leader Rachna Singh for starting a ‘PDA’ school in Shahampur Garhi village in Kanpur district. The case was registered on a complaint by the district education department stating that the school was unauthorized and that it was conducting political activities.

‘’It is shameful that the SP is using the children as political tools,’’ said BJP leader Mahendra Singh Saini.

The state government had launched a merger drive to streamline the school network in areas with low enrollment. The move was opposed fiercely by the teachers’ unions and the panchayats after which the government tweaked the rules and now only the schools with less than 50 students would be merged.