Only 27% children in UP have electronic devices, online education is impractical: Akhilesh Yadav

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday termed as impractical the decision of the Uttar Pradesh government to impart online education following the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.

In a statement issued here, Yadav said, "The way in which the BJP implemented demonetisation and GST without any preparations, it is similarly proceeding with the online education for children. The results are not good. This is an impractical step."

He also said, "Online education cannot work without a computer, laptop or smartphone. Only 27% of children in the state have a laptop or smartphone. More than half of the children in the state do not get electricity."

"Apart from this, the speed of internet connection is slow. There is a difference in the socio-economic level of the students, as a result of which online education is not easy for everyone," he added.

The SP chief said that when his party was in government, it had distributed 18 lakh laptops to students. "At that time, the BJP people used to ridicule it, and today the laptops have become a necessity," he said.

Yadav also said, "The BJP talks about Sanskrit and sanskriti (culture). But, the reality is that the government is ignoring the Sanskrit schools. The government is going to close them. Attention should be paid to accommodate students and scholars studying there."