CJP to Intensify Focus on Student Issues, Launches Nationwide Campaign for Rural Schools

New Delhi: The CJP is set to increase its involvement in student-related issues following the Jantar Mantar protest. As part of this initiative, the organisation has announced a nationwide campaign to improve basic infrastructure in government schools in rural areas. The campaign aims to draw attention to the basic educational conditions faced by students.

CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said the campaign would begin on August 15. The CJP has called on parents, citizens and village heads to work together to address the neglect of educational infrastructure in rural areas.

Dipke will launch the campaign from his village of Hingoli in Maharashtra. He said he would directly approach the village head with a demand to improve the condition of government schools in the village.

In a video message released ahead of Independence Day, Dipke said government schools in villages had been among the most neglected institutions over the past 80 years. He questioned why the government had been unable to provide basic infrastructure to rural government schools even after constructing a new Parliament building and a new residence for the Prime Minister.

Children in villages still have to travel long distances to reach schools, while many schools lack even basic facilities such as drinking water and toilets, he said. The absence of such facilities affects girls more severely, Dipke added.

As part of the campaign, the CJP has called on village heads across the country to improve the condition of government schools in their respective areas. The initiative will be conducted under the name ‘Sarpanch Challenge’. The CJP will publicly recognise village heads who improve the condition of schools through social media and acknowledge their efforts by sharing before-and-after photos of the schools.

The CJP has also called for citizen-led social audits of government schools. Parents of children studying in government schools have been asked to visit the schools and check whether electricity, clean drinking water, functional toilets and midday meals are available. The CJP said it would soon release an audit form that can be filled out for this purpose. Details and visuals from the inspections will also be collected as part of the campaign.

The CJP, which initially began as an online satire platform, later mobilised students against irregularities in the country’s examination system and led a major protest. The student-youth protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar focused on irregularities in competitive examinations, including NEET, question paper leaks and the Central government’s approach towards students’ complaints.

The protest, which began in June, continued for 36 consecutive days. Students, youth and activists from different parts of the country participated in the Jantar Mantar protest. One of the main demands of the agitation was the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Students also demanded that he take responsibility for irregularities in examinations. Following mounting pressure, Dharmendra Pradhan resigned.