New Delhi: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke has announced a countrywide drive to upgrade government schools in rural areas, urging parents to carry out social audits of basic amenities and calling on sarpanches to lead efforts to improve these institutions, PTI reported.
The campaign is scheduled to begin on August 15, with the CJP appealing to citizens, parents and village leaders to jointly tackle what it described as the long-standing “neglect of rural educational infrastructure”.
‘Neglect Of Village Schools’
In a video message released on Monday, Dipke said he would kick off the initiative from his native village, Hingoli in Maharashtra, by approaching the local village head with a request to improve the government school there.
“The coming 15th August is our 80th Independence Day. But, if anything has been neglected or ignored the most in the last 80 years, it is the government schools in our villages,” Dipke said.
“We have made a new Parliament, a new PM house. Why have we not been able to build new schools in our villages? Do we not consider the children of farmers and labourers the future of our country?” he asked.
Dipke pointed out that children in villages still have to walk long distances to attend school and often find basic facilities such as drinking water and toilets unavailable.
“Even today, village children have to walk a long distance to go to school. After going there, they don’t find water or toilet facilities,” he said, highlighting the difficulties faced by girls in particular.
“I feel that on this 15th August, if we should pay attention to anything, if we should make a new start, we should start by improving our government schools,” he said.
‘Sarpanch Challenge’ And Social Audit
As part of the campaign, the CJP has issued an appeal to sarpanches across the country to improve government schools in their respective villages.
Dipke said he would personally approach the village head in Hingoli, and urged other village heads to take up the initiative.
The organisation has described it as a “Sarpanch Challenge”, under which the CJP would publicly recognise village heads who improve their schools by sharing before-and-after photographs on its social media platforms, giving credit to the sarpanches concerned.
“We will give you credit so that after seeing you, after seeing the schools that you have improved, many other village heads also start improving schools in their villages,” Dipke said.
The CJP statement also announced a citizen-led social audit of government schools. Parents whose children study in government schools have been asked to visit the institutions and check the availability of electricity, clean drinking water, functional washrooms and mid-day meals.
“You go to your children’s schools and see if basic facilities are available. See if there is electricity, water… Do your children get washroom facilities? Do they get mid-day meals?” Dipke said, urging the parents to record videos if the facilities are not available.
The CJP also said that it will soon issue a printable audit form through which citizens can record the facilities available and those missing in their children’s schools. The form will be shared through a link on the campaign videos on the CJP’s official social media platforms. Completed forms and video evidence can be emailed to contact@cockroachjantaparty.org.
It said that the campaign seeks to ensure that children of farmers and wage labourers studying in village schools have access to facilities comparable to those available to children in cities.
“If not, you make videos of it. Because your children’s schooling should be good. That is your fundamental right,” Dipke said, adding: “Let us all make a promise to the children who live in villages that we will improve their schools. Together, we can do this,” he said, concluding the video with the message “Real India lives in villages”.
The CJP, which began as an online satirical platform, gained popularity before taking its campaign to the streets. Its 36-day agitation at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi against examination irregularities was called off on July 25 after the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
After weeks of speculation about its next move, the CJP held a two-day strategy meeting of its core team in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Maharashtra, earlier this month wherein the group announced it would continue as a public pressure group and citizens’ movement. It also decided not to enter electoral politics for now.
