Believe it or not, but former US President Bill Clinton got duped during his recent visit to Uttar Pradesh, by none other than Government officials!

This is what happened: Clinton visited India in mid-July to oversee the work of the Clinton Foundation which undertakes projects relating mainly to education, health and sanitation.He went to Jabrauli Village on the outskirts of lucknow, which his charitable foundation has adopted and also visited the senior secondary school there. 

In their bid to impress Clinton, lucknow’s district administration got a private school student to impersonate as a ward of the State-run school and got him to interact with Clinton when the high-profile foreign dignitary visited the institution.

Not just this, the student, who in reality studies in City International School in Mohanlalganj, was “enrolled” in the Government school to be part of the group that interacted with Clinton and other members of the Clinton Foundation on July 17. The boy was shown as a bonafide student of the Government school in the documents.

The child asked Clinton a few questions and also explained the importance of diarrhoea control methods. This brief talk impressed Clinton and he spoke highly about the education system of UP. In fact, Clinton was so impressed with the teaching standards of Government schools in UP that he ordered increase in funds from the Clinton Foundation for the educations sector there.

However, the truth came to light when the same student was spotted in a private school, City International School, on July 23.livid over this incident that has sullied the image of the country as well as the State, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has ordered a probe into the matter. “If this has happened it is very bad. The officials involved have cheated the system. This shows there was an attempt to hide the poor standard of education in the State.  This is not acceptable,” Yadav told reporters here.

Talking about the incident, Abhishek Srivastava, principal, City International School confirmed that the boy, who studies in eighth grade did not attend school on July 17, the day Clinton visited the village. “He skipped school one day in between but he is coming regularly now,” he added.

The principal of the Government school Meenu Gautam “explained” that the grandfather of the student in question brought the child for admission to the school just a day before Clinton’s visit. “I asked for the mark sheet and transfer certificate of the child and the grandfather promised to furnish the same within 24 hours. So I gave the student admission. He was in class when Clinton visited our institution, but is absent since then,” she said.