Viral video: Govt school kid in U.P.’s Basti seen mixing cement in uniform, BSA orders probe

At a time when a girl of Uttar Pradesh’s Basti has made the headlines with her presence of mind by foiling a monkey attack through Alexa, a video of government school children of the district has gone viral on social media where they could be seen mixing cement and engaging in manual labour. One of the boys is seen even wearing a school uniform too.

This was not all. The post further reads: “Food is being prepared in a classroom for mid-day meal and students attend classes under the tree during that period.” When contacted, basic shiksha adhikari (BSA) Anoop Kumar said, “I have seen the video and it is very unfortunate that students are engaged in mixing cement rather than attending classes.”

“I have asked block education officer Omkarnath Verma to investigate the matter and report the same to me by this evening,” he added. The BEO was sent to the school and action will be taken against the guilty, the BSA said. On reaching the school, BEO Omkarnath Verma said the said video was from one government primary school, Raipur.

He said, “I have probed the matter and it looks like that once the school gets over, locals may have used the school premises for mixing cement for construction work. In the video one of the boys identified is a class 3 student. Other children in the video could not be identified by the school principal.”

Meanwhile, the Basti police said in a social media post, “The matter has been referred to the concerned officials for investigation and necessary action.” “There are 78 students enrolled in the school and it has 2 classrooms. When the mid-day meal is cooked in one of the classrooms, students come out in the open and their classes are held under the tree shed. When preparations for the mid-day meal get over, they go back to their class,” the BEO said.

The UP Congress’s official twitter handle shared the video on X and wrote: “The state’s education system is in shambles!” It reads: “In Raipur Nyay Panchayat Dufedi of Basti district, children are being made to mix cement. They are being made to work as masons. Not only this, they also claimed that instead of studying, food is being prepared in the classroom (this claim is not there in the video).”

The UP Congress social media handle claims that this is the condition of most of the government schools in the state. “The main objective of BJP is that the new generation should remain illiterate so that they remain unaware of their rights and it can easily impose its dictatorial decisions on the people,” the state Congress alleged in the post on X.

A number of social media users shared the video on X. One of the users wrote: “It seems that the syllabus of primary school children in UP has been changed, now instead of studying, they are being trained to become mechanics and labourers.”