Garbage, water shortages and broken fans: inside CJP’s ‘School Theek Karo’ campaign

The entrance to the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) high school in South Delhi’s Chhattarpur, Bhatti Mines, lies in the middle of a garbage dump. During the monsoon, residents say the students have to make their way through accumulated garbage and floodwater to reach the campus. The school, which has a strength of about 2500 students, has another entrance, but it offers little respite. It is located through an abandoned park, beside half-built brick structures that residents allege are the other half of the school.

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Inside the school, other problems remain. Questions about the unavailability of drinking water, functioning fans, and washrooms remain unanswered. For parents and residents in the area, these are not new concerns.

These are some of the issues that the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) documented through its ‘School Theek Karo’  (fix the school) campaign, which aims to improve schools across the country, ensure better access to education for children, and to encourage parents and local residents to demand better facilities in government schools.

The campaign was launched on August 15th by CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke at a government school in his native village of Santuk Pimpri in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district. As part of the campaign, CJP volunteers have been visiting government schools, upon requests from local residents, and documenting basic facilities through audit forms covering aspects such as drinking water, teaching staff, quality of mid-day meals and sanitation facilities.

On August 17th, CJP co-convenor Saurav Das and other volunteers visited two government schools in Sanjay Colony, Bhatti Mines- Municipal Corporation Delhi (MCD) Primary Co-ed School and MCD Co-ed High School.

A video posted by CJP showed broken washrooms, non-functional water taps and damaged roofs. A subsequent ground visit, however, revealed a more complicated picture.

At the MCD primary school, water dispensers appeared to have been fixed, and the washrooms were functional. However, parents present at the site said access to drinking water remained inconsistent. They alleged that children often do not have drinking water and that parents sometimes receive calls from the school when their children need to use the toilet.

A member of the school administration, speaking on condition of anonymity, said water scarcity remained an issue because the school uses borewell water from the nearby temple. School staff also alleged that they had submitted multiple applications and complaints regarding the lack of water facilities but had not received a positive response.

Then there exists another concern that is harder to fix with a maintenance request: monkeys. Parents on site were seen taking their 7-year-old son to the doctor after he had been bitten by a monkey while trying to use the washroom. A staff member, who did not wish to be named, alleged that around two to three children are bitten or attacked by monkeys every month, including while trying to use the washrooms.

For CJP volunteers and Resident Welfare Association (RWA) members who accompanied the visit, the problems point to gaps that they say require government intervention. “A teacher’s job is to teach, but maintaining the infrastructure of a government school is ultimately the government’s responsibility,” said a member of the RWA who did not wish to be named.

At the neighbouring MCD high school, the concerns are far more extensive. The school has similar problems with washrooms, non-functioning fans, and a lack of water dispensers. The washrooms that were seen to be non-functional in CJP’s video, however, could not be independently corroborated during the ground visit because the school authorities did not allow inspection of them.

“As the fans are not functioning, many children faint in the heat,” said an RWA member who accompanied the CJP team.

Nikhil, an alumnus of the school, who now works with an NGO providing primary education to underprivileged children, said that the deterioration of the facilities took place over time. “Over the years, the facilities and overall condition of the school have deteriorated,” he said.

The school’s infrastructure problems are also tied to a long-running dispute over the land on which it stands. The land was notified as part of the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary in 1991 by the Forest Department. The Directorate of Education (DoE), however, argues that the school has been functioning on the site since the 1980s and that the land was donated to the Delhi government by the Gram Sabha in 1986. The Forest Settlement Officer, in an order passed in September 2025, accepted the DoE’S claim regarding the land’s status and excluded 36 bighas from the proposed forest area.

However, according to the order, the land cannot be removed from the Wildlife Sanctuary through those proceedings, and the Education Department was directed to approach the competent forum separately. The construction of a permanent school building therefore remains unresolved.

For a school serving around 2,500 students, the legal dispute is only one part of the problem. Even getting into the school can become difficult during the rains, when the route through the garbage dump is flooded.

The same questions about the basic functioning of the government schools surfaced again in Delhi when CJP volunteers visited the Government Co-ed Senior Secondary School in Tulsi Nagar, Inderlok on August 24, 2026.

The team led by volunteer Mohan Yadav, was informed about the school’s conditions by a resident whose children study there. The resident, on condition of anonymity, alleged that students faced problems with drinking water, teachers, washrooms and fans.

“Children need basic facilities like clean drinking water, functioning toilets and fans in the classrooms for kids to have a proper study environment,” the resident said.

But unlike at Bhatti Mines, senior teachers present at the site refused the CJP team permission to enter and inspect the premises, asking the volunteers to obtain permission from the DoE.

Shortage of teachers was a concern raised by the people on site. Teachers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the school currently had 28 faculty members, including contractual or guest teachers. Parents, however, alleged that Class 12 students did not have History and Mathematics teachers, resulting in combined classes and inadequate attention to students.

After being denied entry, the volunteers recorded a video outside the school to be posted on social media and left the premises.

The CJP’s attempts to inspect schools have also faced resistance and objection in other parts of the country. In Jaipur, CJP protesters led by co-convenor Ashutosh Ranka were allegedly attacked while on their way to inspect a government school. A volunteer suffered a fractured arm and their vehicles were damaged. In West Bengal, CJP volunteer Shaikh Abdul Hafeez and his father were allegedly assaulted by a mob during an inspection of a government school as part of his campaign. His father later died of injuries caused by the attack. 

For Mr. Yadav, the purpose of the visits is not simply to produce a list of irregularities. “The campaign is intended to encourage parents and residents to become aware of the condition of schools in their neighbourhoods so that they can demand their right to education,” he said.

For Mr. Yadav, the purpose of the visits is not simply to produce a list of irregularities. “The campaign is intended to encourage parents and residents to become aware of the condition of schools in their neighbourhoods so that they can demand their right to education,” he said.

This demand particularly resonates in Bhatti Mines, where residents say they have already sought State intervention.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta visited the area around six months ago. She addressed the condition of the school and promised to help repair it, in a video posted on her Instagram account. Six months later, residents say many of the same concerns remain.

Basic infrastructure coverage in Delhi’s schools is high on paper. UDISE+ 2024-25 data shows that electricity coverage in Delhi schools was complete. Functional boys’ and girls’ toilets were available in 99.7% and 100% of schools, respectively. However, only 75.7% had functional smart classrooms. The Delhi government has proposed ₹19,148 crore for education in its 2026-27 Budget, including ₹200 crore for new school buildings and ₹275 crore for school expansion.

Yet visits by CJP volunteers to government schools have raised questions about the condition and functioning of basic facilities such as drinking water, toilets, and fans. It underlines the gap between what government schools are expected to provide and what students experience on the ground.

But for CJP, documenting these gaps is only the first step. The larger aim is to encourage parents and local communities to question the conditions of the schools their children attend and demand accountability from those responsible for maintaining them.

Whether those demands translate into better facilities remains to be seen. For now, the campaign is pushing the conversation beyond enrolment and access, towards a more basic question: what are children facing once they enter the classroom? For the parents and children who depend on these schools, the answers they are seeking are simple: a school that is safe, functional and equipped with the basic facilities needed to learn.

(Ifrah Asim is a freelance journalist and postgraduate journalism student at Jamia Millia Islamia)