News outlets are misreporting a remark by Bihar Education Minister Mithilesh Tiwari to falsely claim that he said girls do not need education.
BOOM found that Tiwari used the word “agitation” while arguing that female students do not need to participate in protests and not the word “education” as claimed. Tiwari was responding to questions about the lathi-charge on protesting teacher aspirants in Patna.
Teacher aspirants have been protesting in Patna, Bihar, demanding the immediate release of the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) Teacher Recruitment Examination (TRE) 4.0 notification for over 46,000 vacancies. Police lathi-charged the aspirants during a protest in Patna on May 8, 2026. The Bihar state cabinet was expanded on May 7, and Tiwari was given charge of the Education Department.
The Claim:
The video was posted by the X handle Manish RJ (@mrjethwani1).
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The video was picked up with the false caption by several news outlets including The New Indian Express, Mint, News 18, Money Control and NBT News, misreporting his statement.
What We Found:
1) Original statement in video byte
Taking a cue from the News4Nation mic visible in the video, we checked the outlet’s YouTube channel. At the 3:21 timestamp, a reporter can be heard asking Tiwari when the BPSC TRE notification would be released.
Responding to the question, Tiwari said he had taken charge as minister only a day earlier, and since the following days were holidays, he would examine the file on Monday.
When asked about the lathi-charge on protesters and female students participating in the demonstrations, Tiwari said,
“I am not in favor of lathi-charges. My point is, what is the need for agitation? The daughters of our households are our strength; they are the foundation of our prosperity. So what is the necessity for those daughters to take to the streets? When Modiji himself stands committed to the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan’, you will receive your rightful entitlements without such struggle.”
The word “agitation” in his statement was misreported as “education,” changing the context of what he said.
This can be viewed below:
