Mayawati welcomes UP's smart school plan, calls for basic infrastructure first

BSP chief Mayawati on Friday welcomed the Uttar Pradesh government's decision to develop 14,429 primary schools as “smart schools”, but said basic facilities such as chairs and toilets should be ensured before introducing smart education.

Mayawati was reacting to the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet's decision on Tuesday to develop 14,429 primary schools under the Basic Education Council as smart schools. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

In a post on X in Hindi, Mayawati described the plan to convert nearly 14,500 schools into smart schools at a cost of around Rs 300 crore as a positive step. However, she said schools must first have essential facilities such as proper roofs, benches, chairs, books, toilets, playgrounds and cleanliness.

The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister also questioned whether all these requirements could be met with an allocation of around Rs 2 lakh per school and said the government should consider the issue sympathetically.

Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna had called the proposal an important step towards improving education and said Rs 300 crore had been allocated for the initiative.

Under the scheme, each of the 14,429 schools will receive Rs 2.07 lakh, he had said.

Khanna said the smart schools would have facilities including internet connectivity and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) labs.  (with inputs from PTI)