With an aim to improve condition of government schools in rural areas across the country, the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke on Monday announced a nationwide campaign and called on parents to conduct social audits of basic facilities and sarpanches to take up the task of improving the institutions.
Stating that the campaign will be launched on August 15, Dipke called upon citizens, parents and village leaders to work together to address what it termed "neglect of rural educational infrastructure".
Dipke said he would launch the initiative from his village Hingoli in Maharashtra by approaching the village head with the request of improving the government schools there.
In a video message, Dipke said, "The coming 15th August is our 80th Independence Day. But, if anything has been neglected or ignored the most in the last 80 years, it is the government schools in our villages."
"We have made a new Parliament, a new PM house. Why have we not been able to build new schools in our villages? Do we not consider the children of farmers and labourers the future of our country?" he asked.
Pointing out that "Real India lives in villages", Dipke said that village children still have to walk long distances to attend school and often find basic facilities such as drinking water and toilets unavailable.
"Even today, village children have to walk a long distance to go to school. After going there, they don't find water or toilet facilities," he said, highlighting the difficulties faced by girls in particular.
"I feel that on this 15th August, if we should pay attention to anything, if we should make a new start, we should start by improving our government schools," he said.
As part of the campaign, the CJP has issued an appeal to sarpanches across the country to improve government schools in their respective villages.
Dipke said he would personally approach the village head in Hingoli, and urged other village heads to take up the initiative.
The organisation has described it as a "Sarpanch Challenge", under which the CJP would publicly recognise village heads who improve their schools by sharing before-and-after photographs on its social media platforms, giving credit to the sarpanches concerned.
"We will give you credit so that after seeing you, after seeing the schools that you have improved, many other village heads also start improving schools in their villages," Dipke said.
The CJP statement also announced a citizen-led social audit of government schools.
Parents whose children study in government schools have been asked to visit the institutions and check the availability of electricity, clean drinking water, functional washrooms and mid-day meals.
The CJP also said that it will soon issue a printable audit form through which citizens can record the facilities available and those missing in their children's schools.
The form will be shared through a link on the campaign videos on the CJP's official social media platforms.
Completed forms and video evidence can be emailed to contact@cockroachjantaparty.org.
The CJP, which began as an online satirical platform, gained popularity before taking its campaign to the streets.
Its 36-day agitation at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi against examination irregularities was called off on July 25 after the resignation of then Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Amid speculation over its future course of action, the CJP held a two-day strategy meeting at Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in Maharashtra earlier this month and decided to continue as a youth movement instead of entering electoral politics.
It also announced a "Kya Bolti Public?" campaign for nationwide outreach.
Dipke had earlier urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to use his Independence Day address to speak to the country's youth.
(With inputs from PTI)