LUCKNOW: Responding to the opposition’s charge that the Uttar Pradesh government had reduced education instead of expanding it, chief minister Yogi Adityanath claimed in the Assembly on Thursday that no school has been closed in the state. During a 24-hour continuous discussion on ‘Vision-2047’ in the Assembly, Adityanath said that “the education system in the state has become stronger and more modern than before”. He said that “schools are not being closed, but they are being converted into ‘integrated campuses’ with better facilities.” He clarified that these are schools which have fewer than 50 students and which are located within a radius of one kilometre. He said they are being merged into a large and well-equipped campus so that the student-teacher ratio can be maintained at 22:1 and the quality of education can be improved. Earlier, while discussing in the House, leader of opposition in the Assembly Mata Prasad Pandey alleged that he had reduced education instead of expanding it. He alleged that Adityanath merged 29,000 schools and closed 10,000 of them. “When we ran PDA Pathshala, you would get angry, after all, where will these children study?” he said. Pandey further alleged that under a well-planned strategy, “you have tried to deprive the poor of education”. Attacking the opposition, especially the Samajwadi Party (SP), the chief minister replied, “Before 2017, the condition of 1.56 lakh basic and affiliated schools in the state was very bad. The teacher-student ratio was imbalanced, there was a lack of infrastructure, and the rate of school dropouts was the highest in the country.” He said that under the School Chalo Abhiyan and Operation Kayakalp, which started in July 2017, a call for change was made, and the picture seems to have changed today as a result of that. The chief minister announced that in the schools that remain, Bal Vatika and pre-primary classes will be started for children of three to six years, in which LKG, UKG and nursery will be taught. Along with this, a special package of Rs 100 crore has been approved for the CM Nutrition Mission here, so that a special diet can be given to children suffering from malnutrition and anaemia. Adityanath said that since 2017, the dropout rate has decreased drastically, and 40 lakh additional children are connected to the school. Under Project Alankar, renovation of 75-year-old inter-colleges, new laboratories, smart classes and drinking water arrangements are being made. The chief minister, while counting department-wise schemes, said that UP has seen overall development in the last eight-and-a-half years. On employment, the chief minister said that before 2017, there were irregularities and bias in recruitments. So far, 8.5 lakh youths have been recruited, of which 1.75 lakh are women. Women’s labour force participation has increased from 13.5% to 35%, while the unemployment rate has come down from 19% to 3%, he said. Counting the achievements of law and order, the chief minister said that today, one cyber police station each has been activated in all 75 districts, and now the process of setting up a cyber headquarters is going on within the state. Giving detailed information about the work done for farmers, he said that UP is the leading state in the country in providing electricity to its food providers. He said that there was unprecedented improvement in rural electrification, and by June 2025, 2.50 lakh hamlets were electrified. Yogi said that in 2016, the peak demand was 16,000 megawatts, while in 2025, the demand of 33,000 megawatts is being fulfilled. The chief minister said that from 1947 to 2017, the power sector struggled with limited capacity and irregular supply, when the total production capacity was only 12,000 megawatts. This was insufficient to meet the needs of industry, agriculture and domestic consumption, he added. Responding to the opposition’s questions on the health system, Adityanath said that in eight years, the health model of UP has drastically improved, and twice the number of medical colleges have opened. The chief minister said that two new AIIMS have been established in Gorakhpur and Rae Bareli to strengthen health services in the state. He gave a detailed account of the government’s schemes.