India, May 18 -- Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said the school dropout rates in Uttar Pradesh have reduced to 3 per cent, asserting that his government will bring it down to zero. He was addressing a cheque distribution programme for 24,717 part-time instructors after their monthly honorarium was hiked from Rs 7,000 to Rs 17, 000 in the state.

Adityanath said the government also had no hesitation in extending benefits to part-time instructors as they never adopted "coercive methods" nor resorted to violence or pressure tactics for their demands.

Launching a sharp attack on previous governments, Adityanath alleged that the state of basic education before he became the CM in 2017 was "barren" and on the verge of collapse.

"The...