CJP founder Dipke announces nationwide campaign to improve village schools

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Monday announced a nationwide campaign aimed at improving government schools in rural India through community participation and citizen-led audits.

The initiative will be launched on 15 August, with the organisation urging parents, citizens and village leaders to work together to address what it described as the prolonged neglect of rural educational infrastructure.

Dipke said he would begin the campaign in his village in Hingoli, Maharashtra, by approaching the local sarpanch and requesting improvements to government schools in the area.

“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 in a video message.

“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.

Highlighting the challenges faced by rural students, Dipke said many children continue to walk long distances to attend school, only to find that essential facilities such as clean drinking water and functional toilets are 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, pointing in particular to the difficulties faced by girls.

“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 added.

As part of the initiative, the CJP has announced a “Sarpanch Challenge”, calling on village heads across the country to upgrade government schools in their respective areas.

The organisation plans to publicly recognise sarpanches who undertake improvements by sharing before-and-after photographs of the schools on its social media platforms.

“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 campaign will also include a social audit led by parents and other citizens. Parents whose children attend government schools have been asked to visit the institutions and assess whether they have electricity, clean drinking water, functioning washrooms and proper mid-day meal facilities.

“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.

Parents have been encouraged to record videos documenting missing or inadequate facilities. The CJP said it would soon release a printable audit form allowing citizens to list the amenities available at each school and identify shortcomings.

According to the CJP, the initiative seeks to ensure that children of farmers and wage labourers studying in village schools receive facilities comparable to those available to students in urban areas.

“If not, you make videos of it. Because your children's schooling should be good. That is your fundamental right," Dipke said.

“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 added, concluding his message with the statement: “Real India lives in villages”.

The CJP began as an online satirical platform before expanding its activities into street-level campaigns. Its 36-day protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi against alleged examination irregularities ended on 25 July following the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

At a two-day strategy meeting held in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar earlier this month, the organisation decided to continue functioning as a youth movement instead of entering electoral politics. It also announced a nationwide public outreach initiative titled “Kya Bolti Public?”

Dipke had previously appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use his Independence Day address to engage directly with the country’s youth.

With PTI inputs