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Lucknow Gen Alpha students protest teacher shortage; UP minister assures improvement
Lucknow Gen Alpha students protest teacher shortage; UP minister assures improvement
Lucknow, Gen Alpha students of a government school here staged a protest on Friday morning over a shortage of subject teachers, briefly blockading traffic, before Uttar Pradesh Minister Asim Arun joined them on the road and took them back to the school to hear their grievances.
Students of the Jai Prakash Narayan Sarvodaya Vidyalaya came out of the school at around 9 am and staged a demonstration on the Budheshwar-Mohan Road in the Para area, carrying posters and banners and alleging that the shortage of teachers was affecting their studies, police said.
The Para police team reached the spot after receiving information, spoke to the students and learnt that they were also aggrieved over certain irregularities at the school, according to a police statement.
Police persuaded the students to end the protest and return to the school premises, following which the road was cleared and traffic restored. The students were subsequently seated in the school's meeting hall, where education officials and teachers held discussions with them.
Adequate police force, led by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Kakori, was deployed at the spot and the situation remained peaceful, police said.
Arun, the state social welfare minister , was coincidentally passing through the area on his way to Kannauj for an official programme when he saw the protest. The minister, who is also the Kannauj MLA and whose department oversees the school, delayed his journey and got down to speak to the students.
The minister then accompanied the students into the school and held discussions with them and officials for around two hours.
"I am satisfied that the children were not protesting because they wanted to cheat or avoid attendance. They were protesting because they wanted their studies to be as good as possible," Arun told PTI.
Arun said some teachers had been unable to join their posts due to a court case, affecting teaching at some schools run by the Social Welfare Department.
"The case is scheduled for hearing on the 17th, and we are confident that we will present our case strongly before the high court and soon make arrangements for guest lecturers and teachers," he said.
He said guest teachers had been arranged last academic session to fill vacancies and the arrangement was being continued this year.
The minister also assured the students that their demand for improving coaching under the Mukhyamantri Abhyudaya Yojana would be addressed. The scheme provides coaching for competitive examinations and advanced studies, he said.
The protest by the students, referred to as Gen Alpha, comes shortly after similar demonstrations by school students in Fatehpur, Hamirpur and Kannauj over education and basic infrastructure-related issues.
Arun later resumed his journey to Kannauj for the scheduled programme while the students continued with their classes.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
