CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke visited a Zilla Parishad school and Santuk Pimpri village and checked basic facilities, where he found that toilets lacked water supply. Credit: X/PTI screengrab
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) convenor Abhijeet Dipke on Saturday (August 15, 2026) launched the ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign from his native village in Hingoli district, alleging that poor students suffered due to the government’s neglect and demanded capping of fees of private schools.
The CJP will also undertake a similar movement regarding poor health conditions at public hospitals.
Mr. Dipke travelled to his native village, Santuk Pimpri, and attended a flag hoisting ceremony on the occasion of Independence Day. He visited a Zilla Parishad school and checked basic facilities, where he found that toilets lacked water supply.
“If basic things like water are missing from government-run schools even 80 years after India became independent, how is the country going to develop?” he told reporters. Mr. Dipke flagged the alleged precarious condition of the school, claiming broken windows and inadequate benches for students.
“We have a form comprising a checklist where it can be mentioned whether there are basic amenities available in the school or not. We will gather the data from schools located in Maharashtra and nationwide. Then we will compile the data,” he said.
The CJP convenor said he would visit government-run schools in other talukas of Maharashtra to check whether facilities are available for students in the next phase of the “School Thik Karo Campaign”. “The budget of the Central government has been curtailed for education,” he alleged.
Mr. Dipke alleged that government-run schools are being shut to benefit private ones.
‘’We have seen that over 94,000 state-run schools have been shut down in the past ten years in India. How can a nation be strengthened by shutting down schools when more schools need to be opened?” he asked and accused the government of favouring private schools.
If children achieve big after studying in government schools, who will go to private schools, Mr. Dipke questioned.
He alleged the government has failed to provide facilities in schools and there is no equal opportunity for students.
‘’There should be freedom of equal opportunities. Until equal opportunity is available, we cannot say that our country is developing. The students are making videos saying they don’t have good roads to reach their schools. This shows the government has failed to provide facilities at state-run schools,” he added.
During the inspection of the school in his village, the CJP founder claimed the washroom was apparently cleaned just ahead of his arrival.
“If a basic facility like water is missing from our government schools even after 80 years of independence, then how is the country going to develop? If water is not available at schools, will students go to their homes to use toilets?” he questioned.
Broken windows in govt school being covered with the banners of Dy CM of Maharashtra. #SchoolThikKaropic.twitter.com/XgXIcvbbnC
— Abhijeet Dipke (@abhijeet_dipke) August 15, 2026
Mr. Dipke claimed windows at the school are broken and covered with banners of Deputy CM Eknath Shinde. “This is a satire on the system of our country. There are no benches in the school. There are only four benches while the number of students is more. If there are benches in private schools, why not in government schools?” he added.
Mr. Dipke said the CJP will undertake a similar movement regarding poor health conditions at public hospitals. ‘’We are going to raise health-related issues. When we visit public hospitals, we see people (patients) sleeping on the floor. People have to wait for surgeries. For a CT scan, the wait extends to one week,’’ he alleged.
He said political discourse will be decided by youth from rural areas and not only by people from cities .‘’People should come forward and ask the government about utilisation of funds. We will see that youth from rural areas will come forward. Politics in the country will not be decided by the people in cities, but young people from rural areas will also participate in it,” Mr. Dipke added.
He demanded fees of private schools be capped.
“People are paying Rs 1-1.5 lakh in fees. How will poor children get education? Therefore, fees of private schools should be capped,’’ he said.
Earlier in the day, before leaving for his native village, Mr. Dipke had criticised political parties for not doing enough to improve the infrastructure and standard of government schools. He questioned the source of funding for huge banners that had cropped up in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city on Friday (August 14, 2026) when a Tiranga rally was organised in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Published – August 15, 2026 10:13 am IST
