Abhijeet Dipke launches 'School Thik Karo' campaign on I-Day

Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Saturday launched the “School Thik Karo” campaign from his native village in Maharashtra's Hingoli district, highlighting the lack of basic amenities in government schools and calling for greater accountability over education infrastructure. Dipke launched the initiative on Independence Day from Santuk Pimpri village, where he attended a flag-hoisting ceremony before inspecting a Zilla Parishad school.

Toilets, windows in focus

During the inspection, Dipke flagged several deficiencies, including toilets without adequate water supply, broken windows and insufficient benches for students. Sharing footage of the condition of a toilet, he questioned how children were expected to use such facilities.

Dipke said the absence of something as basic as water in government schools even after 80 years of Independence raised serious questions about the country's development priorities.

The CJP has prepared a checklist through which volunteers and parents can document whether government schools have essential facilities such as drinking water, functional toilets, electricity, mid-day meals and adequate infrastructure.

The collected information will initially cover schools across Maharashtra before the exercise is expanded nationwide. Dipke said he would visit government schools in other talukas as part of the next phase of the campaign.

The campaign encourages citizens to visit schools, document infrastructure gaps and take their findings to headmasters, sarpanches and other local authorities. The CJP plans to compile the information gathered through these social audits to highlight shortcomings in the public education system.

Seeks fee cap

Dipke also demanded a cap on fees charged by private schools, arguing that the deterioration of government schools and increasingly expensive private education were denying children from economically weaker families equal educational opportunities.

He alleged that successive governments, irrespective of political affiliation, had failed to adequately improve government schools.

Before launching the campaign, Dipke had also questioned government spending priorities, contrasting expenditure on major public projects and political publicity with the condition of schools in rural areas.

The CJP founder said the initiative was intended to encourage young people, particularly those from rural areas, to participate in public affairs and question authorities about how funds allocated for education were being utilised.

Dipke also announced that the CJP plans to undertake a similar campaign focusing on conditions in government hospitals, citing concerns over inadequate infrastructure, long waits for treatment and other shortcomings in the public healthcare system.