BJP's model of development was to take away right to education from poor kids: Rahul

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the BJP's model of development of being to take away the right to education from the poor, particularly SC, ST and OBC children.

Opposition leader in the Lok Sabha posted on Facebook screenshots of certain media reports.

One media outlet alleged that the number of government schools fell 8 per cent but private schools rose by 14.9 per cent between 2014-15 and 2023-24, whereas another alleged that SC students' enrolment in 2023-24 as against earlier fiscal year dropped by 16.2 lakh students and ST students' and OBC students' enrolment dropped by 5.1 lakh and 38.5 lakh respectively during the same period.

In a Hindi post on X, Gandhi claimed that the "BJP's development model is a model to snatch the right to education from the poor, especially SC, ST and OBC children".

"Over 5,000 government schools are closing in Uttar Pradesh. Since 2014, 84,441 government schools have shut down in the country, with the majority shutting down in three BJP-governed states - Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Assam," he added.

"This is not only closing schools, but also an attack on the right to education enshrined in the Constitution and the UPA government's historic law, which led all children from all villages into school and resulted in a historic rise in enrolment," Gandhi added.

Babasaheb Ambedkar had declared that education is the milk of a lioness and the person who drinks it will roar, but today education itself is being stolen away, he charged.

"Students and teachers on the street protesting against the school closure decision, but rather than hearing their voice, the government is occupied in intimidating them and further impairing the education system. When the requirement is to make it stronger and offer equal, accessible and quality education to all children," Gandhi said.