New Delhi: In a grassroots push to counter the closure of government schools across Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party has launched a new educational initiative with a political twist, ‘PDA Pathshaala’. The program, which started in Ramnagar, Saharanpur, aims to provide free education to underprivileged children while introducing them to the party’s ideological icons through an alternative and highly symbolic curriculum.
At these community-run schools, students aren’t just learning “A for Apple” and “B for Ball.” Instead, they’re being introduced to public figures aligned with the Samajwadi Party’s values, A for Akhilesh Yadav, B for Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, C for Chaudhary Charan Singh, D for Dimple Yadav, and M for Mulayam Singh Yadav.
सहरानपुर में समाजवादी पार्टी के एक नेता PDA पाठशाला शुरू की है,जिसमें बच्चों को A for Apple नही A for अखिलेश और D for DELHI नहीं D for डिंपल यादव पढ़ाया जा रहा#PDA l #NDA l pic.twitter.com/X8OzzWnPqE
— प्रतीक खरे/Pratik khare (@pratik_khare_) July 31, 2025
The first Pathshaala was launched by SP worker Faraz Alam Gada and began with just 25 students. That number has now more than doubled, with over 60 children enrolled.
“This is not just a school, it is a movement,” said Gada on the second day of the school’s operations. “The BJP government has shut down government schools, depriving poor children of education. Our national president, Akhilesh Yadav, has instructed that wherever a school is closed, we will open a PDA Pathshaala there.”
The PDA in the name stands for Pichhda (Backward Classes), Dalit, and Alpsankhyak (Minorities), the core social groups the party seeks to empower. The initiative not only provides basic literacy and numeracy but also integrates lessons in political and social awareness from an early age.
While critics may view the politicization of education as controversial, the party insists it is about building a more conscious citizenry. “Today’s child is tomorrow’s citizen,” said Gada. “If we strengthen their thinking today, they will be able to stand up against injustice tomorrow.”
The school operates informally, run entirely by volunteers and educators aligned with the Samajwadi Party. It receives no government support and functions with limited resources contributed by the local community. Many of the children enrolled belong to families unable to access formal education, especially in the wake of school closures.
Gada accused the BJP-led government of deliberately weakening the public education system to suppress awareness among marginalized communities. “Because if there is education, there will be questions,” he said. “And questioning is the foundation of democracy.”
Incorporating names like Ambedkar, Charan Singh, and Mulayam Singh Yadav into the alphabet is a symbolic effort to familiarize children with social justice icons and political leaders tied to the party’s vision. Akhilesh Yadav, the current party chief; his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, the party’s founder; Dimple Yadav, a Lok Sabha MP; Babasaheb Ambedkar, the chief architect of the Constitution; and Charan Singh, a former Prime Minister, are all positioned as role models within this new learning environment.
“This is our experiment, to prepare a new generation with social awareness and political understanding,” said Gada. “We are teaching them not just how to read and write, but how to think.”
Encouraged by the response in Saharanpur, the Samajwadi Party now plans to expand the model across the state, particularly in areas where public schools have been closed or are no longer functioning. The goal is clear: to keep education accessible and relevant to the communities that need it most.
“We will not let the doors of education be closed for the poor,” Gada declared. “If the government won’t teach them, we will.”
