Fact-Check: Action Against Schools That Dress Pupils as Santa Claus in MP? No!

There is no announcement about action against private schools in MP for dressing students up as Santa Claus.

The viral claim is false. There is no state-wise order stating that action will be taken against private schools for dressing students as Santa Claus in Madhya Pradesh.

(Source: Facebook/Altered by The Quint)

Social media users have shared graphics and text, which claim that the new Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has announced that any private school that dresses its pupils up as Santa Claus for Christmas celebrations, will face action.

An archive of this post can be seen here.

(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

(Archives of more posts on social media can be seen here, here, and here.)

But..?: The claim is misleading.

• While a similar order, which prohibited schools from dressing pupils up as Santa Claus without parental consent, was issued in MP's Shajapur village, there was no state-wide order as claimed.

How did we find out?: Using relevant keywords, we looked for more details about any such statement or announcement from CM Yadav's social media accounts or office but found nothing of this kind.

• Next, we checked Madhya Pradesh's official education portal and the state government's website to look for the order or announcement, but the search did not yield relevant results.

• However, we came across several news reports, such as one by Dainik Bhaskar, which mentioned a similar order being issued in Madhya Pradesh's Shajapur village.

• It mentioned that the district's education department had issued an order prohibiting schools from dressing pupils up as Santa Claus for Christmas Day celebrations without parental consent.

Bhaskar reported that parental consent was necessary for schools that wanted to dress pupils in Santa costumes.

(Source: Dainik Bhaskar/Screenshot)

News agency ANI also reported on the order, noting that students selected by private schools to pose as Santa Claus, Christmas tree or any other characters for Christmas day celebrations "should be done only after getting written permission from their parents."

• Commenting on the reason behind the order, Shajapur's District Education Officer Vivek Dubey told ANI that though most of the time such events went by without any issues, "sometimes it leads to disputes and complaints coming to us."

• There was no mention of the order being applicable to the entire state of Madhya Pradesh.

Vikas Jain, an education reporter in Madhya Pradesh, confirmed to The Quint that no order pertaining to Christmas had been issued across the state.

The Quint has reached out to Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav's office for his inputs and will update this article with his response as and when it is received.

Conclusion: The viral claim about MP CM Mohan Yadav announcing action against private schools for dressing pupils up as Santa Claus is false.

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