The Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) vowed to continue its “School Theek Karo” (fix schools) campaign after the Rajasthan government issued guidelines restricting the entry of “outsiders” and prohibiting photography and videography on school premises without prior permission.
The order cited the right to life, dignity, and privacy under the Constitution’s Article 21, Supreme Court judgments on privacy, and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights’ school safety guidelines. Ranka sought a written assurance that the problems would be addressed. Ranka hit out at the government over the guidelines, accusing it of trying to stop public scrutiny. “Instead of fixing schools, the Rajasthan government has started shutting down school audit activities. Whatever the Rajasthan government does, we will get our schools fixed,” Ranka wrote on X.
He said education minister Madan Dilawar could lodge a case or even arrest them, but they would continue inspecting schools until their condition improves. Opposition Congress leader Govind Singh Dotasara said that the restrictions aimed at concealing shortcomings in the government school system rather than addressing them. “Instead of improving the condition of government schools, the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] government has found a way to cover up its failures and conceal the poor state of the education system,” Dotasara wrote on X.
The guidelines were issued on Sunday after CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka joined students protesting the dilapidated condition and lack of drinking water facilities at a government school in Alwar’s Thanagaji as part of the campaign.
