In pouring rain, 200 Lucknow schoolgirls block road over teacher shortage

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Senior officials from the Welfare Department and the district administration later arrived and spoke to the students. They subsequently took them back to the school, where they heard their grievances and sought to address the issues they had raised.

The boys’ and girls’ sections of Jai Prakash Narayan Sarvodaya Vidyalaya operate from separate campuses and buildings. The school is run by the UP Welfare Department.

Later in the day, UP Welfare Minister Asim Arun said in a statement that to address the shortage of teachers, guest faculty were selected last year. “However, a case was filed before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court regarding the continuation of guest teachers, due to which these teachers could not be engaged for the past one year.”

He added that the case was heard today, and the department presented its submissions. “We are hopeful that the court may pass an order tomorrow. Once the order is issued, we will bring back guest teachers and take necessary steps to address the issues raised by the court in selection of these teachers.”

He further added that action will also be taken against the officers responsible as the teachers could not be made available for around one-and-a-half months due to their negligence.

On August 14, the boys had blocked Mohan Road during the protest. Arun, who was travelling through the area, found his vehicle caught in the traffic jam caused by the protest. He intervened and spoke to the students.

Opposition reacts

Monday’s protest sparked criticism from the Opposition.

The Samajwadi Party wrote on X: “After Gen Z, now Gen Alpha is also on the streets — this is clear proof of how much the BJP has ruined the education system.”

“Instead of educating children, making them highly literate, and providing them jobs and employment, the BJP wants to turn them into bonded labourers; destroying the education system is a grand BJP conspiracy, therefore raise your voice against the BJP, remove the BJP from power,” it added.

The Uttar Pradesh Congress also wrote on X, “This is not just a sit-in by the girls; it is the voice of a new generation questioning the system.”

The repeated protests at the school come amid similar demonstrations by school-going children in other parts of Uttar Pradesh in recent months. Students have held protests over education and basic infrastructure-related issues in Fatehpur, Hamirpur and Kannauj.