CJP’s Public Audits of Schools: Some Lessons From a Gen X Experiment
Abhijeet Dipke’s announcement to hold public audits of schools came as a welcome, and a hugely corroborative, surprise for me having being part of the first large scale initiative of school social audits conducted under the aegis of the National Commission For Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) 15 years ago in 2011. That initiative did not last, despite a very successful run, largely due to bureaucratic resistance to the idea of a social audit that gives power to ordinary people to monitor and question officialdom. Perhaps it is an idea whose time has now come.
So, will the Dipke-led ‘school theek karo (fix the school)’ campaign, which also relies on communities highlighting shortages in schools and demanding improvement, meet a better fate? Here are some lessons from the older attempt that the new and energetic team of Gen Z enthusiasts might find useful.
Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) founder Abhijeet Dipke, left, with team member Ratna Singh, centre, on August 5, 2026. Photo: PTI, via CJP.
The first lesson that came through was that in order to sustain the process, and not let it be a one-off exercise, there is a need to establish a systematic methodology for conducting the public audit. While, the pressure that the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) has created through their highly publicised school visits and social media campaign will yield results, as it is doing, long term improvement in the schooling system requires continuous and sustained efforts. These are best achieved through a systematic process that involves the participation of both the community and the state in a transparent and democratic fashion.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.
A key initial element of the process is conducting a detailed documentation of the condition of the schools through personal visits and conversations with students and parents. Inclusion of official data in the documentation adds a layer of credibility to the exercise. Often, the lack of proper documentation impedes efforts by ordinary folk to elicit a response from officials for whom their job revolves primarily around the generation of ‘paperwork’. Documentation, complete with photographic evidence and official data, thus creates the paperwork necessary and makes it harder for bureaucrats to ignore.
Another important element of the process is creating neutral platforms of dialogue on education between the state and citizens – where the condition of the schools can be openly discussed. In our experiment we held what we called ‘shiksha samvads (education dialogues)’ and conducted them at the block level where the community of parents, students and teachers held an open and direct conversation with government officials, backed by their documentation and strengthened by direct testimonies from students and teachers.
The samvads (dialogues) brought together all the government officials associated with the functioning of the school, which was not just the education department. For instance, water and sanitation that plays an important role in making toilets functional; land records, that ensures the school is properly recorded and hence eligible for infrastructural improvements; transport, which is needed to ensure no habitation is left without the means to access a school. And so on. Lack of convergence across departments that is critical in making a school truly functional emerged as an important insight through this process. With all departments present at the samvad, action could be initiated on a range of complaints raised, on one platform.
Representational image of a school in session. Photo: Barry Pousman from New York, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Crucially the process included the grievances of teachers as well. This was important as the blame for poor quality schooling is often placed solely on teachers, generating a great deal of hostility from them when efforts are made to present the true picture of a school. We found that incorporating the challenges they face – such as teacher shortages, lack of support staff, delays in salary payments, the burden of non-teaching duties etc.– not only paved the way in terms of access to schools, but also increased their motivation towards the process, rather than potentially allowing them to create a hinderance.
The recent backlash faced by Dipke from teachers complaining about the disruption of school activities could be avoided if teachers are taken along and the process conducted with their collaboration. Furthermore, it can foster a better connect with the community as they see themselves on the same side, as it were, in the drive to improve schooling.
Most importantly, the process included a feed-back element that involved following up on the issues and ensuring that action is taken. In many instances, complaints are raised but follow through does not take place resulting in the complaints remaining unresolved. Holding monthly samvads, where action on the issues of the previous month is discussed thus became a part of the process that ensured its success.
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The second lesson learnt was that the process itself needs to be institutionalised in order to be sustained. While we tried doing this by holding regular shiksha samvads organised by the block administration, given the hostility currently being faced by the CJP volunteers – including FIRs being filed against them – a different format or route is needed. Constituting Block or District Shiksha Samitis that include members from across the political spectrum and civil society, for instance, may be a better modality as it would make school education more directly a political issue and also ensure more effective follow-up with the bureaucracy.
These committees could take up different themes at each meeting to focus attention on them while ensuring that concerns of the girl child, socially marginalized groups and other experiential aspects of school functioning are accounted for as well, in addition to infrastructural shortages. Care would however have to be taken that the meetings are held in the spirit of a samvad or dialogue with the communities, keeping the school and the welfare of the children at the forefront, and not hijacked for political gain. Including community volunteers or civil society representatives in the committees would thus be necessary.
The third lesson worth mentioning is that facilitation and resources are needed to ensure the success and continuance of the campaign. Here, civil society groups working in the area could play a role, as happened in our initiative. A range of grass-roots organisations working with children, with education, with human rights, on gender justice, on child labour – all interfacing with education and bringing in different perspectives – were trained and supported to conduct the audits. It is hard to imagine the process having the lasted the time it did without their involvement. Dipke and his team of CJP volunteers can play that facilitating role along with local groups already working on the ground.
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Finally, a social audit of publicly provided services, like education, is the way forward to ensure transparency and accountability in their provision and ensure better quality of the service. That the CJP has taken up the mantle and made a beginning in this direction with their campaign is to be lauded. That they will face backlash from the powers that be who have entrenched interests in maintaining the status quo is a reality they must be prepared to face.
And while they showed immense courage and fortitude in their Jantar Mantar protests, culminating in the resignation of the education minister, the school theek karo campaign is different kind of challenge, as it involves multiple layers of a deeply entrenched and opaque system. It will be a test of their capacities not just to endure the backlash and persist but also a test of their inventiveness in dealing with the complex set of demands that improving the school system entails.
Seeing how Gen Z has taken up the cause of education, I am hopeful that they will be more successful in making the change required in the education system that we as Gen X were.
Kiran Bhatty is a senior visiting fellow, CPR and Research Associate Centre de Sciences Humaine.
This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.
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