Morphed Images Shared to Claim MHA Has Ordered to Shut Schools

We couldn’t find an official order on the Ministry of Home Affairs website making the said announcement.

Fact-Check on schools being shut | Altered images of news bulletins have been shared on social media to falsely claim that the MHA has announced the immediate closure of schools and colleges.

(Photo: The Quint)

Altered images of news bulletins have been shared on social media to falsely claim that the Ministry of Home Affairs has announced the immediate closure of schools and colleges.

CLAIM

The images were widely shared on Facebook without any caption. The text in one of the viral images read, “अभी - अभी गृह मंत्रालय का चौंकाने वाला फैसला
तुरंत स्कूल कॉलेज बंद करने का आदेश जारी |”

[Translation: The sudden order by the Home Ministry to close school college immediately.]

An archive of the post can be found here.(Source: Screenshot/Facebook)

An archive of the post can be found here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

Another edited screenshot carried a similar message, which said,
“अभी अभी बड़ा फैसला
तुरंत स्कूल कॉलेज बंद करने का आदेश जारी
अभी 10 मिनट पहले लिया बड़ा फैसला |”

[Translation: Big Decision: Order to close school college immediately.
The big decision was taken just 10 minutes ago.]

An archive of the post can be found here.(Source: Facebook/Screenshot)

WHAT WE FOUND OUT

We looked for an official order on the Ministry of Home Affairs website and searched with relevant keywords on Google for credible news reports about the development. However, we could not find any official announcement or news updates. We also found several reports stating that schools and colleges have opened up in various states in India in a graded manner.

We then searched the official YouTube channel of First India News Rajasthan and Aaj Tak but didn’t find any bulletin which carried the information mentioned in the viral graphic.

We analysed the screenshots and found errors in both screeshots. In the first one, we noticed that the news banner at the top overlapped the channel’s logo.

Aaj Tak logo cut by banner. (Source: Screenshot/Facebook/Altered by The Quint)  

In the second screenshot, we found that the photo of the anchor was that of Anjana Om Kashyap, the executive editor and anchor of the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak. However, the channel in the screenshot was First India News Rajasthan – as can be seen from the logo of the channel.

Also, the “breaking news today” banner cut into the channel’s logo, similar to what appeared in the previous screenshot.

Anchor and executive editor of Hindi news channel Aaj Tak shows as an anchor on First India News Rajasthan. (Source: Screenshot/Facebook/Altered by The Quint)  

Union Cabinet Minister for Education, Dr Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, retweeted a tweet by PIB Fact Check that rubbished the viral claim.

Clearly, an edited graphic is being circulated to falsely claim that the Home Ministry has directed schools and colleges to be closed immediately.

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