SP took cheating in exams as birthright, plunged youth into identity crisis: Adityanath

Varanasi (UP), Jul 8 (PTI) Taking an apparent swipe at the opposition Samajwadi Party, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said those who described copying during board exams as a birthright had pushed the state's youth into an identity crisis. Speaking after launching the Chief Minister Teachers' Cashless Medical Scheme in Varanasi, Adityanath said cheating was prevalent during the previous Samajwadi Party government, and examination centres in Ballia, Ghazipur, Azamgarh and Mau districts had become hubs for organised malpractice. "Earlier, candidates from Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and other states used to register for the Uttar Pradesh Board examinations. Their examination centres were not allotted in Varanasi, Lucknow, Gautam Buddh Nagar or Gorakhpur, but in Ballia, Ghazipur, Azamgarh and Mau. We wondered if these districts had become exceptionally advanced in education. We realised something was wrong, launched a campaign, and shut down all the cheating syndicates and their centres," he said. The chief minister said investigations revealed that candidates would hand over contracts to cheating rackets instead of appearing for the examinations themselves. "The candidate who filled out the examination form would not even come to take the test. The cheating mafia took care of everything, and the pass certificate would eventually reach the candidate's home," he claimed. Without naming anyone, Adityanath said, "There was a leader in Uttar Pradesh who had said that copying is our birthright. If cheating itself is considered a birthright, what can one say?" The remark is widely seen as a reference to the late Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had strongly opposed the anti-copying ordinance introduced by the BJP government led by Kalyan Singh in 1992 and withdrew it after he became chief minister in 1993. Adityanath said the culture of organised cheating had created an identity crisis for the youth of Uttar Pradesh. "We must remember that no one has the right to play with the future of the country and its unity and integrity," he said. The chief minister said there was a time when educators from Uttar Pradesh were invited to teach in other states, but later, "people pursuing their selfish interests completely ruined" the state's education system. Invoking Acharya Chanakya, Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as role models, Adityanath said a nation guided by teachers like Chanakya could never become weak or vulnerable to external forces. Highlighting welfare measures launched at the event, the chief minister said the cashless healthcare scheme would benefit around 12 lakh teachers and non-teaching staff. The scheme -- claimed to be the first-of-its-kind in the country -- would provide temporary teachers and non-teaching employees earning more than Rs 10,000 per month with a group term insurance cover of Rs 10 lakh, personal accident insurance of Rs 1 crore, permanent disability cover of Rs 1 crore, and additional benefits to support the education of children and the marriage of daughters in the event of the employee's death. Adityanath added that contractual employees earning more than Rs 10,000 a month would also receive insurance coverage of up to Rs 80 lakh under the scheme. Besides launch of the cashless scheme, the event was also organised for direct benefit transfer of Rs 1,200 each to the accounts of the parents of 1.10 crore students for uniforms, shoes, socks, sweaters, school bags and stationery; execution of an agreement with the State Bank of India to provide social security cover to 10 lakh teachers and contractual employees; and felicitation of principals and headmasters of clean and green schools selected at the national level. PTI SLM ABN RUK RUK