By Special Correspondent
Bhopal: In a strongly worded press conference at the Madhya Pradesh Congress headquarters on Sunday, MPCC president Jeetu Patwari commended Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for, in his words, “speaking the truth” about the state’s decaying education system. Patwari said the minister had candidly revealed that over 50 lakh children in Madhya Pradesh have never even heard of fruits like apples, exposing the deep-rooted crisis in schools.
Patwari cited years of reports by national agencies and research institutions highlighting severe shortcomings in the state’s education, nutrition, poverty and child welfare indicators. He said media investigations and recent remarks by senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi who had shared visuals of mid-day meals served “on paper plates” demonstrate a total collapse of basic services. “This isn’t an error in administration; it is the failure of an entire governance structure,” he asserted.
He attacked the state government for its “distorted priorities”, claiming that official documents allocate Rs 12 per day for a child’s nutrition, whereas Rs 40 per day is shown as expenditure on cattle feed. Despite these figures, he said, both children and cattle remain malnourished. “This is a government that values paperwork, not lives,” Patwari alleged.
One of the most alarming revelations, he said, emerges from UDISE+ data, which shows a dramatic fall in school enrolment—from 1.6 crore students in 2017–18 to 1.04 crore in 2024–25, meaning 56 lakh children have disappeared from the system. Patwari demanded answers: “Where have these children gone? Have they become labourers, victims of child marriage, or simply lost faith in the system?”
He also questioned how the school education budget grew from Rs 7,000 crore to Rs 37,000 crore in seven years while mid-day meals remain inadequate, thousands of schools function without principals, and over 1,400 schools operate with a single teacher.
Calling the situation “a scandal of neglect and corruption”, Patwari said Union Minister Pradhan’s remarks had exposed the BJP’s failures. He demanded an immediate explanation from State Government and asked whether the government would order CBI or ED inquiries into alleged irregularities.
“This is not politics,” Patwari concluded. “This is about the future of 56 lakh children. Silence is no longer an option.”
