Lucknow: A day after Modi govt said in Rajya Sabha that 18,272 govt schools have been shut in India in the past five years and 8,475 private unaided schools have come up, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday positioned ‘affordable education’ as a deciding factor in 2027 assembly polls announcing that party’s ‘PDA Pathshala’ initiative would be reintroduced as a statewide movement if Samajwadi Party is voted to form govt.SP had launched the PDA Pathshala initiative in July 2025 after the UP govt initiated closure and merger of 26,000 primary schools and around the same gave permission to set up 27000 new liquor stores. The SP grabbed the opportunity to draw home the point that education was not on the priority list of the BJP govt. SP workers had set up PDA Pathshalas at school buildings that were left locked after closure or merger move. The govt was quick to react and FIRs were lodged against SP workers who tried to set up these schools forcing the party to put the initiative on hold within a fortnight of its launch. After the issue of school closure came up in the Parliament on Thursday, Akhilesh once again announced that the symbolic PDA Pathshala campaign would take the shape of a full-fledge movement once the SP is voted to form the govt in UP. On Friday, Akhilesh said closure of schools in UP was sure to become a deciding factor in 2027 assembly polls as BJP’s decision to shut and merge schools has hit the PDA community the most. “BJP’s very ideology is against education, which is why they are getting schools closed,” he said in a statement on X. “BJP knows that education will enlighten young minds, create scientific temperament and general awareness and empower them to ask questions all of which will be detrimental to BJP’s conservative and orthodox ideology. Depriving students of their right to education is BJP’s social crime. This will impact the PDA community the most,” Akhilesh said. The SP chief said BJP depriving young minds of education has not only left the students unhappy but has hit the parents of these children hard. “Mothers who wanted their children to get education and lead a better life, are furious and will come forward to defeat the BJP,” he said. The fact that the govt data itself states that govt schools have been closed but count of private unaided schools have gone up explains the need for these schools.
