New Delhi, 18 August—In an embarrassing question to country’s ruling establishment, Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijit Dipke today asked as why education ministers and officials send their children to private schools and not to government schools.
The question posed by Dipke raises some fundamental questions as the right to equal opportunity under Right to Equality enshrined in the country’s Constitution strives to create a level playing field to all children.
Dipke’s campaign for better government schools – by asking people to upload videos of their local school – has rattled a few governments particularly the BJP ruled states.
Rajasthan, for example, has restricted the entry of outsiders in government schools without prior permission of the principal and barred photography and videography without written approval.
Ministers and education officials should send their children to government schools, Dipke said, arguing that those responsible for the education system should have a personal stake in it.
“If all those working in the education department, including ministers, officials, principals and teachers, enrol their own children in government schools, then watch how quickly our government schools magically improve,” Dipke wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“Why do all of them enrol their kids in private schools? Do they not trust their own work?” he asked.
As expected, the post drew both support and criticism, with some questioning the CJP founder’s own decision to pursue higher education in the US. Dipke recently completed a master’s degree in public relations from Boston University after studying journalism in Pune.
His Boston education has become part of the public conversation around his political activism.
“Do as I say, not as I do much. Why did you pay for Boston University then? Ghar par hi padhai kar leta,” one reply on his X post read.
Others offered a different argument, saying that officials and their children are separate individuals and that a child’s right to choose a school should not be restricted to hold a parent accountable for the failures of the education system.
Several people backed Dipke’s proposal, saying the children of politicians, bureaucrats and other public officials should attend government schools.
Dipke’s post came a day after repair work began at a government school in his native village in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district following a complaint over inadequate facilities and broken windows.
The 30-year-old CJP founder had visited the school as part of his “School Thik Karo” campaign, which seeks to highlight poor infrastructure and other shortcomings in government schools.
On Tuesday Dipke visited Dhegaj village in his native district and found students sweeping classrooms despite cleaning staff being available. “This is completely wrong….When there is cleaning staff, why are the kids sweeping classrooms?” he asked teachers, who denied asking the children to do so. Students also sought notebooks, pens and shoes, which Dipke assured would be provided, along with a tubelight and new blackboard.
At another government school in Siddheshwar village, he alleged students lacked clean drinking water, with a water filter unused for three years and a leaking tin shed forcing students to crowd into another classroom during rain.
“First big victory for the villagers of Limbala in Hingoli district,” Dipke wrote. “The alcoholic principal has been suspended. I would like to dedicate this win to Abdul and his father. As Abdul said yesterday- “Ab rukna nahi hai, school theek karke hi rahenge.”
The reference to Abdul was for Sheikh Abdul Hafeez, a CJP volunteer whose father, Janab Mafik, died at Bengal’s Burdwan Medical College and Hospital on Saturday night, two days after he had allegedly been beaten up at his home.
Abdul was also assaulted for filming the dismal condition of his childhood school as part of the CJP’s School Thik Karo campaign and uploading the video clip to social media.
His mobile phone was snatched away, and he was made to delete the videos by alleged BJP activists.
The CJP has given the Bengal government a 10-day deadline to arrest all those accused in the case.
Veteran Journalist and Political Commentator
