Dipke should stay away from schools, but keep talking about them

Xtreme News India   22-08-2026 20:27:41   373526160

Dipke should stay away from schools, but keep talking about them

New Delhi (Special correspondent) - Abhijeet Dipke and his CJP are highlighting the poor condition of government schools. But barging into classrooms risks putting schoolchildren in the crosshairs. The activists should keep raising the issues and force officials to act without turning schools into sites of confrontations.

Abhijeet Dipke's school-going days are over. He's even been to Boston. There is no reason why he or anyone else from his Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), like Ashutosh Ranka, should be barging into schools. They should keep raising the issues, force officials to take heed and see that amenities reach the schoolkids, but without themselves entering schools. 

Ranka and other CJP workers were approaching a primary school in Rampura-Kanwarpura village of Jaipur district when they were stopped by some villagers. The CJP activists were attacked and had to flee from the spot.

Residents said "outsiders" had no role to play in the village or its school. Ranka claimed the people weren't villagers "but goons summoned by the BJP". His remarks reveal that the CJP's activism has already taken political shades.

The BJP is in power in Rajasthan, as well as in Maharashtra, the other state being targeted by the CJP.

The CJP launched the 'School Thik Karo' campaign on August 15 to get schools fixed. It has been highlighting poor conditions of schools and protests by students across India.

On the ground, Dipke has been at the forefront of "raids", barging into classrooms even as classes were on.

Schools aren't public spaces. They are institutions that have gated entry and are meant for those enrolled there and the teaching and non-teaching staff. Entry even for guardians, other than during PTMs, is restricted. That is essential for the safety of the children.

Private schools generally have strict rules to govern visitors. They have security guards at the gates ensuring that people enter only with prior permission. The same basic principle of controlled access is essential to keeping children safe in government schools too.

And even if such visits are permitted, they should be restricted to just one or two people, rather than a large group that Ranka was part of. Why lead a crowd into a school when there are children inside?

In West Bengal, a mob stormed the house of a CJP volunteer, Sheikh Abdul Hafiz, after he visited a local school to expose the poor conditions. Hafiz claimed that many in the crowd were armed with bamboo sticks and crowbars. In the melee, his father sustained an injury to the head, and later died.

There is no guarantee that a school visit by Dipke or anyone from the CJP won't descend into chaos right there, risking the safety of the schoolchildren. This is something that everyone needs to be mindful of, especially since Dipke is planning an agitation near the school in Jaipur district after giving a 48-hour deadline on Friday.

But do the CJP members really need to enter schools to bring about a change? The Jantar Mantar protest has given a model to the CJP leaders, showing they don't need to storm into offices to get results.

Jantar Mantar is three kilometres away from the Kartavya Bhawan 2, where the education ministry functions from. Without going to the education ministry, the CJP highlighted the paper leak issue and forced the Union Education Minister to resign.

Also, Dipke, Ranka and other CJP activists do not have the authority to enter schools. However, there is nothing that prevents them from reaching the offices of the District Education Officer, the District Magistrate or the Collector. Then there are the MLAs and the MPs.

Kamlesh Singh, our in-house satirist and columnist, has detailed that in an opinion piece Protester's Playbook to Bring in Real Change.

Dipke doesn't have any special powers. His power is that of an aam aadmi. The school principal and management aren't answerable to him or the CJP, but elected representatives and government officials are.Dipke, Ranka and the other cockroaches do not belong to schools. They should stay away. But we need a dialogue on the education system and the condition of government schools. They need to keep the focus on the issue without barging into schools.

(Source : The Print)