UP schools restrict YouTubers as student protests expose gaps in government education

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh authorities have begun restricting the entry of YouTubers, vloggers and other unauthorised outsiders into government schools, even as a series of student protests across the state has drawn attention to problems ranging from poor infrastructure and inadequate food to teacher shortages.

On August 17, Balrampur Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) Vikas Chandra Srivastava directed all government primary and upper-primary schools in the district to prevent unauthorised outsiders, including people associated with YouTube and other social media platforms, from entering school campuses.

According to The Wire, the order, issued with immediate effect, prohibits photography and videography by outsiders without prior permission from the competent authority. Srivastava said the measure was intended to ensure that teaching was not disrupted and to protect the safety and interests of students.

“It is often seen that some outsiders and YouTubers enter the council schools of Balrampur district without authorisation, take photos and videos of the school and staff and share them on social media,” Srivastava said in the order. He claimed that such activity affected the teaching-learning processes, undermined the dignity of teachers and tarnished the image of the education department.

Speaking to The Wire, Srivastava said the directive was not a blanket ban on the media or outsiders, rather an attempt to regulate access to school premises. He alleged that some independent YouTubers entered campuses primarily to generate content and increase viewership.

He cited a recent instance in which two people allegedly told officials they wanted to shoot videos because their content was not receiving sufficient views. According to Srivastava, such visitors sometimes interrupt classes while filming.

Similar restrictions have been introduced in several other districts. Basti BSA Anup Kumar Tiwari issued a directive on August 13 instructing schools not to allow unauthorised outsiders, including YouTubers and social media users, to photograph or record activities without permission.

Tiwari said the measure was part of routine administrative precautions and denied that it was aimed at preventing scrutiny of government schools. He also directed acting principals to keep school gates locked during and after school hours, citing concerns over the entry of anti-social elements and stray animals.

He said social media creators could film inside schools after obtaining permission, provided they did not disrupt classes or interfere with students.

“They should not disturb active classes. Professional ethics must be maintained,” Tiwari said, adding that the department did not prevent journalists from visiting schools when established procedures were followed.

The restrictions come against the backdrop of a growing wave of student protests across Uttar Pradesh, many of which have been recorded and circulated on social media.

The agitation began with a protest at Sarvodaya Inter College in Fatehpur on July 28, when around 1,500 students staged a sit-in demanding clean drinking water, safe electrical wiring, functioning fans, leak-free roofs, adequate mid-day meals and sufficient desks and chairs. Senior officials reached the school and subsequently gave the students written assurances on their demands.

Similar protests have since been reported in several districts.

Students at schools in Lucknow, Azamgarh, Kannauj, Hamirpur, Moradabad and Unnao have raised grievances over infrastructure, teacher vacancies, food quality and other facilities.

In Unnao, students of Jai Prakash Narayan Sarvodaya Vidyalaya blocked a road on August 19. They protested against teacher shortages and poor-quality food and the demonstration ended only after officials assured them that their concerns would be addressed.

In Moradabad, students protested against the location of a liquor shop near their school, while in Lucknow, around 200 female students from a Sarvodaya Vidyalaya blocked a major road over teacher vacancies, following a similar protest by male students from the same group of schools.

Students at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Kannauj recently locked themselves inside their hostel rooms and began a hunger strike over allegedly poor-quality food. The protest ended after the district magistrate met them and promised government intervention.

In Hamirpur, schoolchildren and their parents marched nearly five kilometres to the district administration office over waterlogged and unpaved roads connecting Chandupur village to their school. The Allahabad High Court subsequently took suo motu cognisance of the matter and issued notices to the local administration.

The court observed that providing proper road access to students was a responsibility of the state and rejected the administration's explanation that road construction was being held up because of the absence of a No Objection Certificate from the Forest Department.

Social media videos have also exposed alleged shortcomings in the functioning of government schools. In Sitapur, authorities registered an FIR, suspended a headmistress and terminated the contract of a cook after a video showing watery vegetable curry being served to primary school students under the mid-day meal scheme circulated online.

In Ballia, an officiating principal was suspended and a contractual instructor's services were terminated after a video showed students being served rotis and cooked vegetables directly in their hands instead of on plates. A subsequent inquiry, however, found that the video had been recorded months earlier by a contractual worker who allegedly intended to use it to blackmail the principal.

The growing visibility of such incidents has prompted officials to conduct inspections of government schools in several districts.

Srivastava maintained that restricting unauthorised filming was necessary to prevent disruption rather than to suppress criticism. Tiwari similarly said officials were already conducting inspections and taking action against negligent staff, pointing to the recent suspension of a headmaster in Basti's Bahadurpur block over alleged mid-day meal irregularities and consumption of gutkha on school premises.

The restrictions have nevertheless emerged at a sensitive moment for Uttar Pradesh's government school system, with students increasingly taking their grievances beyond school gates and using social media to document conditions on their campuses.

For the administration, the issue is one of regulating access and protecting students from intrusive filming. For critics, however, the timing of the orders raises a broader question: whether restricting independent recording inside schools could also limit one of the few avenues through which deficiencies in the public education system reach the wider public.