New Delhi: Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) that has put the state of government schools at the centre of its ongoing campaign wrote to all state governments Monday, seeking data on school infrastructure, teacher vacancies and funding over the last five years.
In identical letters addressed to education ministers, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke said visuals from government schools circulating on social media showed that many children still lacked basic facilities such as safe drinking water, functional toilets, proper classrooms, and even benches.
“It has been 80 years since India gained Independence…No child in this country should be forced to study in such conditions. They are being treated worse than animals,” Dipke wrote.
The letters are the latest step in CJP’s campaign regarding the condition of government schools. The youth-led outfit has been highlighting dilapidated school buildings and inadequate facilities on social media while demanding greater public spending on education.
The campaign has also seen confrontations on the ground. A CJP team, including co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka, was allegedly assaulted during a recent visit to a government school in Rajasthan.
The CJP accused BJP workers of carrying out the attack, a charge the party disputed, and cross FIRs were subsequently filed over the incident.
In its letters to the states, the CJP has now sought details of the number of government schools renovated over the past five years and those still requiring repairs or complete renovation.
It has also asked state governments to disclose the number of sanctioned, filled and vacant teaching posts and provide figures on funds allocated to government schools over the past five years against the amount actually spent.
The party also sought estimates of how many additional government schools are needed to ensure reasonable access to quality education and details of non-teaching duties assigned to government school teachers.
It has also sought data on how many schools have adequate computers and digital-learning facilities, clean and functional toilets, and proper sports facilities and equipment.
“This is not about politics or any one government. This is about the future of our children,” Dipke said.
“Every child, irrespective of where they are born or how much their parents earn, deserves a safe classroom, clean drinking water, a functional washroom, a bench to sit on, and a teacher to teach them,” he added.
The party has urged the education ministries to make the information public and take “urgent steps” to address deficiencies in government schools, calling for improvements to public education infrastructure on a “war footing”.
PTI
