Lucknow, February 22 Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced on Sunday that the state has successfully reduced the dropout rate in schools under the Basic Education Council to zero.
He attributed this achievement to the effective use of technology and identified a key reason for previous dropout rates: the lack of toilets for female students in schools.
During the inauguration of the IBM AI GovTech Innovation Centre in Lucknow, Adityanath said that this shows that "we can use technology in a better way and transform the lives of those who are at the last rung of society."
"People would say that their daughters could not go to school because the school was far away. What was the result? Schools were opened in every village. But even after schools were established in villages, no one was willing to send their children. We had to work hard and strive to change this," Adityanath said.
Explaining why dropout rates had previously risen despite the establishment of schools, Adityanath pointed out that schools were set up at the Nyaya Panchayat level, complete with buildings, faculty, furniture, and other essential facilities. However, now that schools exist in every village, many lack sufficient infrastructure, qualified teachers, proper furniture, and basic amenities.
The chief minister claimed that earlier, the mere establishment of a school was enough for authorities, often resulting in only a single room being designated as a school, and no real attention was given to the quality of education.
"But when the data was collected and analysed, it was revealed that the reason for student dropouts was the absence of separate toilets for girls. And, when Prime Minister Modi launched a campaign to address the issue, we provided separate toilets and drinking water facilities for boys and girls in every school," the chief minister said.
Adityanath said that by making better use of technology in every sector, benefits are being delivered to every section of society in Uttar Pradesh.
"Before 2017, for nearly 40 years, the people of Uttar Pradesh suffered from encephalitis. It is estimated that more than 50,000 children died due to this disease. At that time, no effort was made by the government...but under our government, all data was collected and analysed.
"Encephalitis has now been completely eliminated in Uttar Pradesh," Adityanath said, highlighting AI's role in the health sector.
The CM also said that the state is moving rapidly towards becoming a leader in areas such as deep tech, AI and quantum computing. Referring to the successes of Digital India, Ayushman Bharat and DBT, he said, "India is progressing towards holistic and technology-driven development. Through the effective use of technology, government schemes are being delivered to the last person in society."
"We are working together on MedTech. In the recent budget of Uttar Pradesh, provisions have been made for a Centre of Excellence in Robotics," he said, adding that the government is working to develop Lucknow as an AI City with IBM's cooperation.
Emphasising the need to work on quantum computing, he said that the country's first computer was installed at IIT Kanpur with help from IBM. "Today, we are moving forward in that direction. I believe that IIT Kanpur is ready to cooperate for quantum computing at its Noida campus," Adityanath said.
During the programme, IBM signed two MoUs with the Uttar Pradesh government to link the state's long-term development goals with AI-based governance, the UP government said in a statement. In collaboration with the IT and Electronics Department, this IBM centre will develop AI-based applications across various departments and strengthen digital and AI capabilities in different departments. In partnership with the Directorate of School Education, an AI literacy programme will be launched for students and teachers from classes 6 to 12.
