India's citizen-led school audits test limits of activism

The student-led "Cockroach" movement is taking its campaign for accountability to government schools, but the activists' methods are encountering growing resistance from authorities.

https://p.dw.com/p/5JZLZ Advertisement The Indian activist movement dubbing itself the "Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)" shot to national prominence in May by leading weeks-long protests over a scandal involving highly competitive entrance exams.

The student-led campaign put the government under intense political pressure and ended with the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in July.

Now, the CJP is taking aim at India's government schools , organizing volunteer visits to classrooms, documenting conditions and demanding accountability for problems.

Launched on August 15, Independence Day in India , the campaign asks parents, students and volunteers to inspect schools and record basic facilities including toilets, drinking water, electricity, classroom furniture and school buildings. The CJP has said the findings will be used to pressure authorities to make improvements.

The initial target is to audit 100 rural government schools over two months. It has also proposed giving recognition to village leaders who improve their schools.

Unlike the first campaign, which was based on street protests, the school audits require a more sustained form of local activism . Volunteers are expected to work consistently at the local level, document conditions and follow up with officials, parents and communities.

The organization is dealing with different layers of the Indian administration. Responsibility for government schools is divided between state governments, local administrations and elected village bodies. The CJP is therefore set to tackle different rules and political interests across the country.

India has over a million government schools, according to Education Ministry data. They make up nearly 70% of all schools in the country but serve less than half of its 247 million schoolchildren.

That scale has given CJP a vast field for its campaign. But it has also brought a new set of challenges.

The authorities are raising questions regarding rules and locations for the CJP scrutiny, as well as safeguards when children are present.

The response is already varying from state to state. Some authorities have ordered their own inspections, while others have restricted access or taken police action against CJP volunteers.

Authorities in Maharashtra and Rajasthan states have objected to school visits carried out without permission.

In one case, a complaint by school authorities resulted in police action against CJP members after they entered the premises to conduct an audit.

In Rajasthan, restrictions have been imposed on outsiders entering government schools, as well as on filming, interviews and other forms of documentation. CJP volunteers in Rajasthan have also said they were attacked while inspecting a school .

"We are not afraid. We are seeking accountability from the government," said CJP spokesperson Ashutosh Ranka.

In the state of Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has ordered officials to conduct on-the-spot checks of school facilities and directed police to register cases over what he called misleading videos about schools and colleges.

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The CJP has said such measures undermine public scrutiny. Authorities have said schools are not open spaces for unauthorized inspections, particularly when children are present.

Vinita Gursahani Singh, managing trustee of We, The People campaign, which works on citizen empowerment, said the limits are set by law.

"Under the Right to Information Act, any citizen can inspect schools but you need to submit an application. And that makes sense as there has to be consideration for students and teaching," Singh told DW.

"All public scrutiny is legitimate. It is our job to scrutinize. But the scrutiny has to follow process. It has to be even-handed. What applies to one citizen must apply to all," she said.

The CJP maintains government schools are publicly funded institutions and citizens have a legitimate right to ask how they are functioning.

Its volunteers use standardized audit forms to record conditions and send their findings to the CJP, which has said it will use the material to press local administrations to respond.

But critics question whether citizen activists can assume the role of inspectors. There are concerns about whether volunteers have the expertise to assess safety or infrastructure problems and how allegations posted on social media are verified.

Mohandas Pai, an education advocate, supports CJP's focus on government schools but disagrees with its methods.

"I like young people taking interest in school education. It's a broken system, and we need reforms," Pai told DW.

But he objected to large groups entering schools and questioning headmasters and children.

"You can't just barge into a school just because you think you are entitled to do it," Pai said, stressing that "children have to have a safe, secure environment."

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Pai said the CJP should instead send small teams with permission, collect systematic data, publish regular reports and use the evidence to pressure governments.

CJP spokesperson Saurav Das rejected the argument that the campaign should rely on conventional channels, saying such approaches have failed to bring meaningful change.

Responding to Pai on X, he challenged him to join the next school visit and show the volunteers how it should be done.

The audit campaign has also raised questions about privacy, consent and disruption of teaching when volunteers enter school...

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