Fact-Check: BJP Leaders Share 2016 Pics as Recent Ones From UP’s Govt Schools

The photos date back to 2016 and show a government-run primary school renovated by its principal in Sambhal, UP.

A set of photographs showing very well-maintained school premises is going viral on social media.

Several social media users, including Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, have shared the photographs to claim that it shows recent pictures of a government-run school in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district, implying that the Yogi Adityanath-led government has brought about a positive change in the state-run schools.

However, the photographs are not recent. We found that the photographs show a government school in Itayla Mafi in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, and were first shared in October 2016, approximately five months before Adityanath became the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh for the first time.

We also learnt that the school was renovated by the headmaster, Kapil Malik, over the course of three-and-a-half years with his own money.

CLAIM

The photographs were shared to claim that they were recent ones of a state-run school in Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh. It was also shared by BJP UP media panelist Prashant Umrao, BJP worker Arun Yadav, and Sadhvi Prachi.

(Note: Swipe right to view all three claims.)

The claim is viral on Facebook.

Archives of more posts with the same claim can be seen here and here.

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We ran a reverse image search on one of the photos on Yandex and came across the same set of photos in a tweet by Agra District Magistrate Prabhu N Singh's verified account.

This tweet was shared on 10 October 2016, around five months before Yogi Adityanath took oath as Uttar Pradesh's chief minister.

The search on Google also led us to an article by Amar Ujala dated January 2017, which credited one 'Kapil Sir' for the school's growth.

The article mentioned that Kapil became headmaster of the state-run primary school in Itayla Mafi in Sambhal district in July 2015 and was determined to make the school better than public schools.

The report added that back then, Kapil had spent over Rs 12 lakh from his own pocket to improve the condition of the school, adding a 'high-tech' computer lab, projectors, a biometric attendance system, CCTV cameras in classrooms, and many other electronic aides.

He told Amar Ujala that the school used to receive Rs 5,000 annually, which was insufficient.

We also came across a video report by The Lallantop from February 2017, which identified the principal as Kapil Malik. Malik told the reporter that it took him three years and six months to renovate the school, which only saw 15 students in attendance.

Touring the premises in the video, he said that before he started working on improving the school, it only had four walls. "The greenery, the boundary wall, we didn't get any money from the administration, I made these. Toilets for the children, the office, the kitchen, I made all of these," Malik said.

Seeing Malik's work, the Education Department visited the school and admired the change, as per Amar Ujala. The Itayla Mafi primary school was also named the 'model school' of the state by the department members.

Malik was later felicitated by the Yogi Adityanath-led government in 2019, when he received the State Teacher Award, reported Dainik Bhaskar.

Evidently, old photos of a primary school in Itayla Mafi, located in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district, are being shared as recent photos of the same, with some users crediting the Yogi Adityanath-led government for improving the condition of schools in the state.

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