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Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha MP and Uttar Pradesh in-charge Sanjay Singh has alleged that five government primary schools in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district have “disappeared", with no school buildings, students or teachers found at the locations despite the institutions being shown as operational on the government’s U-DISE portal.

The five schools named by Singh are Primary School Dhalger Tola, Primary School Misirpur, Kanya Composite School Gagan Arjani, Primary School Urdu Bazaar and Primary School Bagh Hasan.

Singh challenged the Uttar Pradesh government and BJP leaders to find even one of the five schools and offered a reward of ₹1 lakh to anyone who manages to locate one.

‘Schools Operational On Paper, But No Trace On Ground’

Singh said the UP government’s U-DISE (Unified District Information System for Education) portal continues to show all five schools as operational. However, he claimed there is no trace of the school buildings, children or teachers on the ground.

“Today, I am bringing to light an extraordinary and unique case involving the Yogi government. Until now, we had been showing schools where the building existed but the premises were filled with garbage, and where the kitchens and toilets were in poor condition. These schools were shown as operational on paper but were not actually functioning on the ground. But in Jaunpur district, the government school itself has disappeared," Singh said.

He added that the AAP challenged the Yogi government and BJP leaders to find even one of the five schools.

“I will give ₹1 lakh to whoever finds one," he said.

Schools Were Running From Rented Buildings: Singh

Singh said a letter from the City Education Officer stated that there was no trace of any of the five schools. According to him, the schools had been operating from rented buildings, which have now been handed back to their owners.

Despite this, Singh said Misirpur Primary School, Kanya Composite School Gagan Arjani, Bagh Hasan School, Dhalger Tola School and Urdu Bazaar School continue to be listed as operational on the UP government’s online U-DISE portal.

“According to U-DISE, these schools are functioning, but in reality, there is no trace of the schools, the children or the teachers. After cases of donation theft, offering theft, land theft and sugar theft, we now have the case of school theft. There will be no other example anywhere in the country where an entire school has simply disappeared," he said.

Singh Demands FIRs Against Officials

Singh said the Chief Minister, Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) and other officials had said FIRs would be filed in such cases.

He argued that FIRs should instead be registered against those responsible for the condition of the schools and the officials allegedly responsible, rather than people who highlight the issue.

“When a school is being stolen, the FIR should be against the thieves who stole the school and the corrupt officials, not against those making videos," he said.

Singh demanded that FIRs be registered against Block Education Officers and BSAs in cases involving dilapidated schools in rural areas. He also said that wherever District Magistrates (DMs) are involved, FIRs should be registered against them as well.

Singh cited two instances in which AAP workers allegedly faced police cases after highlighting the condition of government schools.

He said AAP Youth Wing state president Pankaj Singh had travelled to Noida and made a video showing the dilapidated condition of a school, but an FIR was filed against him instead of the school being repaired.

Similarly, Singh said AAP worker Firoz Siddiqui made a video showing dilapidated schools and roads in Hardoi, following which the Hardoi DM had a case registered against him.

“Instead of filing FIRs against those eating up mid-day meal funds and committing scams in construction work, the government is filing FIRs against those exposing the truth. I want to clearly tell the Uttar Pradesh government that this dictatorship will not work. Action should be taken against those who have created this condition of schools and mid-day meals and those who have stolen schools," Singh said.

Threatens Legal Action Over FIRs

Singh said he would personally submit applications seeking registration of cases in three districts, including Jaunpur.

“If FIRs are not registered against the responsible persons, I will approach the court under Section 156(3) and seek registration of FIRs against the guilty officials," he said.

The AAP leader also accused the government of taking one-sided action by threatening people with FIRs.

“FIRs will have to be registered against those who have ruined the schools. The children of officials and political leaders do not study there. It is the children of poor and rural families who study in these schools, which is why they do not care and have allowed the schools to be ruined," he said.

AAP Running ‘School Theek Karo’ Campaign

Singh said AAP would continue making videos and highlighting the condition of government schools through the media. He also showed videos from three more regions and explained what he described as the ground reality of the Chief Minister’s Operation Kayakalp and the condition of primary schools in Uttar Pradesh.

He said the AAP was running the ‘School Theek Karo’ campaign across Uttar Pradesh.

“Now the BJP government will either have to fix the schools in Uttar Pradesh or the people will fix them. We are not making any very big demands. If the BJP government can spend thousands and lakhs of crores of rupees for capitalists, it should also spend some money for the poor children of Uttar Pradesh and repair these schools," Singh said.

Singh said the campaign to highlight the condition of schools would continue.

“The five schools in Jaunpur that I mentioned have no trace at all. There is no information about the children or the teachers either. If anyone can find these schools, I have announced a reward of ₹1 lakh from my own side," he concluded.

The AAP's "School Theek Karo" campaign aims to highlight the condition of government schools through videos and media, which could bring attention to issues and potentially lead to improvements.