The entrance to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi high school in South Delhi’s Chhattarpur, Bhatti Mines, sits in the middle of a garbage dump. During the monsoon, residents say students must pick their way through accumulated waste and floodwater simply to reach the campus. The school, which has a strength of about 2,500 students, has another entrance, yet it offers little improvement. That route passes through an abandoned park beside half-built brick structures that locals describe as the unfinished other half of the school itself.
Inside the campus, basic facilities remain inadequate. Questions about the availability of drinking water, working fans and usable washrooms persist. For parents and residents of the area, these problems are familiar and long-standing. These conditions form part of what the Cockroach Janta Party has documented under its “School Theek Karo” campaign, an effort aimed at improving government schools, expanding access to education and encouraging communities to demand better facilities.
Origins of the Campaign
The campaign was launched on 15 August 2026 by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke at a government school in his native village of Santuk Pimpri in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district. From the outset, the initiative focused on practical, citizen-led audits rather than abstract policy demands. Volunteers visit government schools, often at the request of local residents, and record the state of basic amenities using standardised forms. The checklist typically covers drinking water, sanitation, toilets, electricity and fans, classroom condition, mid-day meals and the presence of teaching staff.
The underlying premise is straightforward: communities should not wait indefinitely for authorities to notice deficiencies. By documenting problems with photographs, videos and written records, residents and volunteers create a public record that can be placed before local officials and higher authorities. The campaign has since extended beyond Maharashtra to several other states, including Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, West Bengal and Telangana.
The Delhi Visit and Documented Problems
On 17 August, CJP co-convenor Saurav Das and other volunteers visited two government schools in Sanjay Colony, Bhatti Mines—the MCD Primary Co-ed School and the MCD Co-ed High School. A video shared by the organisation showed broken washrooms, non-functional water taps and damaged roofs. At the high school, the concerns were more extensive. In addition to the hazardous approaches to the campus, volunteers and accompanying residents pointed to non-functioning fans, limited or absent drinking water facilities and washrooms in poor condition.
An RWA member who joined the visit stated that many children faint in the heat because the fans do not work. An alumnus of the school, now associated with an NGO providing primary education to underprivileged children, observed that the deterioration of facilities had occurred gradually over time. Residents have long sought a proper school serving children from nursery through Class 12 and have expressed frustration that earlier assurances of improvement have not translated into lasting change on the ground.
Later public statements by CJP representatives referred to a “river of garbage” greeting students at the very location where senior officials had previously spoken about upgrading the school. Social audits conducted under the campaign flagged tin roofs, unfinished flooring, garbage around the premises, inadequate toilets and the absence of computers or libraries. Local residents set a mid-September deadline for visible action, with the organisation indicating it would return if the problems remained unaddressed.
Wider Pattern Across States
The Delhi example is not isolated. Across the states where audits have been conducted, similar patterns have emerged: schools without reliable drinking water, toilets that lack water or remain locked, classrooms without functional fans or adequate seating, leaking or damaged roofs, and concerns about the quality of mid-day meals. In some places, newly constructed buildings have remained locked while children continue in makeshift arrangements. In others, basic safety and hygiene standards are unmet.
The campaign’s method relies on volume and visibility. Volunteers and ordinary citizens are encouraged to download checklists, visit schools, record findings and share them publicly as well as with local authorities. CJP has stated that more than a thousand such audits have already been carried out. The organisation uses the collected material to press for accountability at the level of municipal bodies, state education departments and elected representatives.
Purpose and Approach
School Theek Karo positions itself as a demand for the minimum conditions necessary for learning. The campaign argues that children in government schools, many of them from economically weaker backgrounds, are entitled to safe buildings, clean water, functional toilets and classrooms that do not become unbearable in extreme weather. By involving parents and local residents directly in the audit process, it seeks to convert private frustration into organised public pressure.
The approach deliberately stays close to tangible, verifiable issues rather than broad ideological claims. A non-working tap, a broken fan, a flooded approach road or an unusable toilet can be photographed and recorded. The cumulative effect of many such records is intended to make neglect harder to ignore.
Challenges and Responses
Documenting deficiencies is only the first step. Translating audits into repairs requires sustained follow-up with multiple layers of administration—school principals, municipal education officers, elected councillors and state departments. In some locations, the campaign has encountered resistance or delays. In others, the publicity generated by visits and videos has prompted official inspections or public commitments.
In Delhi, the specific problems at the Bhatti Mines schools illustrate how infrastructure, sanitation and civic services intersect. A garbage dump at the entrance is both an education issue and a municipal sanitation failure. Water shortages affect hygiene and concentration. Non-functional fans turn classrooms into health risks during peak summer. Addressing any one of these problems in isolation is unlikely to produce lasting improvement; coordinated action across departments is required.
The Stakes for Students
For the roughly 2,500 students of the MCD high school in Bhatti Mines, and for children in similarly placed government schools elsewhere, the daily reality of poor facilities shapes attendance, health and the ability to learn. Navigating garbage and floodwater to reach school, sitting in overheated classrooms, or lacking clean drinking water and usable toilets are not abstract policy failures. They are concrete barriers that accumulate over years.
The School Theek Karo campaign has brought renewed attention to these conditions by combining on-ground documentation with public visibility. Whether the audits lead to systematic upgrades will depend on the response of the authorities responsible for school infrastructure and civic services. For now, the campaign continues to gather evidence and press the simple demand that government schools provide the basic facilities children need. In places such as Chhattarpur’s Bhatti Mines, that demand begins at the school gate itself.
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