Yogi Adityanath, Akhilesh Yadav Spar Over Unemployment, Education Issues In UP Assembly

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Leader of Opposition Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday sparred in the state assembly over issues of education and unemployment.

Replying to a question by Samajwadi Party (SP) member Sangram Yadav on whether the government will include employment-oriented courses in inter-colleges in view of “increasing unemployment”, Adityanath said, “If our honourable member had come after studying the National Education Policy (NEP), then he would not have raised this question.”

The NEP has been implemented and under this, along with the general syllabus, employment-oriented courses have been introduced, the chief minister said and cited the inclusion of paramedical, drone technology, data analytics and 3-D painting courses.

He also highlighted that in the past six years, there have been “cheating-free examinations and the ‘cheating mafia’ has been reined in”.

“For the first time, board examinations of classes 10 and 12 have been conducted in 15 days, the results came in 14 days, and the process got completed in 29 days,” Adityanath said, amid loud thumping of desks by members of the treasury benches.

In the last five years, “we have recruited 1.64 lakh teachers in basic and secondary education boards”, he said and added that recruitment has also been made in the higher education department, and for technical, vocational and Sanskrit education.

“For recruitment of teachers, we have constituted a commission, and have also brought a bill in this regard,” the chief minister said.

Asking what the “double engine” Uttar Pradesh government had done to make children’s future bright and provide jobs through the implementation of the NEP, Akhilesh Yadav said the present dispensation in the state “says that our unemployment ratio is this, but does not tell the employment ratio”. They should tell the number, he demanded.

The chief minister responded saying in 2016-17, the unemployment rate in the state was over 19 per cent, and today it is between three and four per cent, and “this tells that employment is being provided”.

He said recruitment processes are being carried out with absolute transparency and fairness and there are no pending cases in courts regarding use of unfair means and practices in appointments.

“Even the judiciary knows that there is absolute transparency in the recruitment process, and the government is progressing with cleanliness and complete honesty,” Adityanath said.

The SP lost to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh in 2017 and since then the saffron party is in power in the state.

Tuesday was the second day of the state assembly’s Monsoon session, which will end on Friday.