Sparking a controversy, Uttar Pradesh higher education minister Yogendra Upadhyaya on Wednesday said the English nursery rhyme “Johnny, Johnny! Yes Papa? Eating sugar? No papa” sows the seeds of dishonesty in children.
Rhymes rooted in Western culture fail to impart moral or cultural values, he said while addressing para teachers, or shiksha mitras at Merchant Chambers’ hall in Kanpur. He contrasted English rhymes with older Hindi poems, which he said carried meaningful life lessons.
He cited the rhyme’s central exchange, in which a child denies eating sugar, as normalising deception.
The rhyme, believed to have been documented by American scholar Francella Butler remains widely used in early childhood education in India.
“The poems sow the seeds of lies in children during their childhood,” he said.
The minister urged teachers to go beyond the prescribed syllabus and incorporate Indian cultural values in their teaching, invoking the traditional guru–shishya relationship as a model.
At the same event, Upadhyaya honoured 12 shiksha mitras and said the government had decided to increase their honorarium from ₹10,000 to ₹18,000 a month, stating this would improve the livelihoods of para teachers, particularly in rural areas. The programme also featured a live telecast of an address by chief minister Yogi Adityanath, highlighting the government’s focus on value-based education.
Upadhyaya was on a two-day visit to Kanpur, during which he also chaired a district coordination committee meeting and reviewed law and order and development works.
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