New Delhi: The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) will launch a nationwide campaign on August 15 to improve government schools in villages, founder Abhijeet Dipke announced on Monday, shifting the youth movement's focus towards rural education after its prolonged agitation over examination reforms.
Dipke said the campaign would begin from his village in Hingoli, Maharashtra, where he plans to approach the village head and seek improvements to government schools.
In a video message, Dipke said rural government schools remained among the country's most neglected public institutions despite eight decades of Independence.
"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 said.
He also highlighted basic infrastructure gaps, including the absence of drinking water and functional toilets, and said children in villages sometimes have to travel long distances to attend school.
Dipke framed the campaign around the gap between the attention given to major public buildings and the condition of village schools.
"We have made a new Parliament, a new PM house. Why have we not been able to build new schools in our villages?" he said.
CJP said the campaign aims to ensure that children from farming and working-class families have access to basic school facilities comparable with those available in urban areas.
The Sarpanch Challenge
As part of the campaign, CJP is asking sarpanches across the country to take up the improvement of government schools in their villages.
The initiative, described as the "Sarpanch Challenge", will ask village heads to improve their local government schools and document the changes through before-and-after photographs.
CJP said it would publicly recognise sarpanches who participate by sharing their work on its social media platforms and giving credit to the village leaders.
"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 places responsibility on local communities and elected village representatives rather than relying solely on government announcements or central interventions.
Parents to conduct social audits
CJP is also asking parents whose children attend government schools to conduct citizen-led social audits of their schools.
Parents will be asked to check whether schools have electricity, clean drinking water, functional toilets 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?" he said.
The organisation plans to release a printable audit form that parents and citizens can use to record which facilities are available and which are missing. CJP has also asked citizens to record video evidence of missing facilities and submit the material to the organisation.
Dipke said the exercise would give parents a way to document problems directly rather than simply raising general complaints about school infrastructure.
A wider youth movement
The campaign marks a new phase for CJP following its 36-day protest at Delhi's Jantar Mantar over alleged irregularities in competitive examinations. The agitation began on June 6 and expanded into a nationwide youth movement, with CJP demanding accountability over examination systems and the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The agitation was withdrawn on July 25, after Pradhan resigned and the Centre assured the protesters that FIRs against protesters would be withdrawn and that the government's response to CJP's five-point examination reform charter would be discussed.
CJP subsequently decided to continue as a youth movement and public pressure group rather than enter electoral politics. At a two-day core team meeting in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar earlier this month, it announced the "Kya Bolti Public" nationwide outreach campaign for September, focusing on issues including education, unemployment and governance.
This report is based on inputs from PTI, with additional reporting and background by the EdexLive Desk.
