- Abhijeet Dipke alleged fake students and liquor bottles at a Latur government school during inspection
- Dipke claimed drinking water was absent and toilets were cleaned just before his school visit
- School principal denied allegations, stating two schools share the building and students were genuine
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke, after winning the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan as education minister over the NEET paper leak issue, is now on a new mission. And his next target is the Maharashtra education minister.
Dipke, as part of his "School Theek Karo" (Fix The Schools) campaign, on Thursday visited a government school in the Ausa area of Latur district and made some stunning claims.
He alleged that students from other schools were brought in to sit in classrooms during his visit to a Zilla Parishad school. He also claimed that liquor bottles were found on the school premises. He further alleged that the students made to sit in the classroom were not even registered in the school records.
The school at Ausa, over 500 km from Mumbai, lacked drinking water and its toilets had been cleaned shortly before his arrival, he told reporters.
In a video of the "inspection" shared on his X handle, Dipke claimed that the plates for the mid-day meal were also brought in fresh after news of his visit.
In the video, Dipke is seen interacting with students when he is told that they were not from the school. He is seen holding his head in surprise and arguing with a teacher. He also alleged a lack of drinking water and toilet facilities at the school.
The premises had also been cleaned only a day earlier, he claimed, adding that photographs taken during the visit indicated that illegal activities were taking place within the school compound where liquor bottles were also found.
School authorities, however, rejected Dipke's claims. School principal Balaji Gawali clarified that two separate schools - one Marathi-medium and one Urdu-medium - operate from the same building and refuted the claim that students from outside were brought in. Gawali asserted that the children present were indeed students of the school.
He also denied the allegation that new plates had been procured merely for show, stating that the children were eating from older plates provided to the school.
The principal maintained that Dipke was under the mistaken impression that these arrangements and the display were staged specifically for his visit, which was not the case.
Dipke remarked that the students in these schools lived in conditions "worse than animals", stating: "Even a minister's dog gets better facilities than the students! If the government hasn't been able to fix leaking roofs or address the shortage of benches in ten years, what exactly have they achieved?"
Dipke has demanded the resignation of the state's School Education Minister, Dada Bhuse. The block education officers responsible for the poor condition of schools in the area, who remain unavailable citing official tours, should be suspended within eight days, he demanded.
The Cockroach Janta Party has launched the "School Theek Karo" campaign under which it will conduct a social audit of government-run and municipal schools in Latur district of Maharashtra.
The CJP has prepared a 10-point audit format covering basic facilities, school administration, government schemes, safety and security, transportation, mid-day meals, accessibility, cleanliness and overall functioning of schools.
