The student protest movement in India known as the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) scored a major victory in July after Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan stepped down following weeks of demonstrations in Delhi. Now, the movement is aiming its campaign for accountability at improving India's government schools. Last week on India's Independence Day, the CJP launched a nationwide campaign asking citizens to inspect government schools, document what is missing and pressure local authorities to fix basic facilities.
Dubbed "Fix the Schools," the campaign aims to mobilize citizens to identify problems locally and make them public. CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke launched a campaign in the Indian state of Maharashtra from his native village in Hingoli district. He spoke to students and documented what he said were broken windows, lack of clean drinking water, missing classroom benches and unusable bathrooms.
"No matter which political party ruled, nobody worked for government schools in states. Now there is a need, and we can make them work by asking questions," said Dipke. Government officials did not respond to DW's requests for comment on the CJP's accusations.
The CJP has prepared assessment forms that parents, students and residents can use to document issues with local government schools. They are being asked to record video evidence, complete the assessment and send the material to CJP. The organization plans to compile the reports into a public record of neglected schools and use them to pressure local authorities to respond.
The CJP has said the campaign will focus on five basic requirements: functioning toilets, electricity, clean drinking water, classroom benches and the quality of mid-day meals. One element is to publicly recognize village heads who improve their local schools. The CJP plans to use before-and-after evidence to highlight villages where conditions have improved.
The organization has set an initial target of auditing at least 100 rural government schools over the next two months and pressing authorities to act on the findings. The youth-led CJP began in May as a campaign calling for accountability over a scandal involving a highly competitive university entrance exam. The news that the question sheet had been leaked ahead of the exam date in early May exposed long-running grievances over privileged access for some students.
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