A bizarre order of the Education department debarring girls from participating in the games during annual sports has drawn ire from the political parties who say this decision reflects anti-feminine face of the Akhilesh Yadav Government.

BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that this government boasts of slogan “Padhe betiyan, badhe betiyan” but is bars girls from taking part in field games like hockey, cricket and football.

“The state-run schools girls account for almost 60 per cent of the total strength. Why this order was issued. This shows that government is against girls taking part in sports, particularly in the field games,” Pathak said here on Wednesday.

A senior Congress leader Maroof Khan said that differentiating between girls and boys is a crime. This decision is bizarre when girls have outshone boys in many fields including academics. Girls should get equal opportunity and government support the girls taking part in sports, he said.

The government is issued an order asking the schools to complete the annual sports by 15 of next month at the block level. A schedule has been sent to the schools and the Principals have been asked to follow the guidelines in the letter and spirit. The Basic Shiksha Adhikari issued the directives accordingly. The BSA, lucknow Prabhat Mani Tripathi said that the order was issued as per the directives of the Sports Directorate. “As the directorate had asked us to organise games like cricket, hockey and football only for boys; a specified order regarding this was issued,” he said.

A senior official, however, said that following hue and cry being raised over the issue the Government has decided to revise its order. A new order will be released soon,” he said.

However, a senior official confided with The Pioneer that girls had never taken part in field games like cricket and football. In school they play basketball and volleyball but had never played football and hockey. “There is something wrong in the order. Probably the tone and tenor of the order created some confusion,” he said.

“However, the basic problem is school does not have funds to conduct games. The directorate has asked schools to organise this sporting event from their own resources. How can we do it and complete the games before January 15,” he asked.