Should be mandatory for education officials to send their kids to govt schools, says Abhijeet Dipke

It should be made compulsory for education department office-holders to send their children to government schools, CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke remarked on Tuesday (August 18, 2026). Dipke, who last week launched the ‘School Thik Karo’ (improve schools) campaign.

Speaking to reporters at Limbala in his native Hingoli district, Mr. Dipke evaded a direct reply when asked whether he planned to contest Lok Sabha elections from Hingoli, only saying that if government schools improved, he would have no problem to contest elections on.

Earlier, Mr. Dipke had posted a video of the headmaster of a Zilla Parishad school in the village who allegedly drank and slept in class.

Authorities suspended the teacher on Tuesday (August 18, 2026), but he would not leave the village till a new teacher replaces him, the Cockroach Janta Party leader said.

“This school requires four teachers. They have only two, so two more should be provided. I am also going to visit four to five other schools over the next few days,” he stated.

Villagers had demanded two years ago that the headmaster be removed, but education department officials took no action, Mr. Dipke claimed.

“Action should also be taken against these officials….If the daughter of an education officer sees a teacher drinking country liquor and sleeping in front of her, will these officials tolerate it?” he asked.

“It is their job to run government schools in a proper way, seeing that teachers are available. Their kids study in private schools, and they are not doing their duty….It should be made mandatory for the children of these office-holders to study in government schools,” the CJP leader remarked.

This would bring about a drastic improvement in administration schools, he said.

”People are [now] asking questions as they are concerned about education and jobs for their children. They have risen above the politics of caste and religion,” Mr. Dipke said, adding that residents would not vote for them if political leaders failed to improve government schools.

Because if the children of the poor studied well, it would not assist the next generation of today’s leaders win elections, Mr, asked about speculation that he was preparing to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Hingoli seat, he stated, “If the government repairs all government schools, there will be no issue left for Abhijeet Dipke to contest Lok Sabha elections on.” Some people did not want administration schools to improve. Dipke said.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Dipke took part in a protest in Hingoli over school-related issues.

Political leaders arrange buses and trains to ferry their supporters for election rallies but can not provide a single bus for poor students, he said.

Over the past decade, political debate divided people along caste and religious lines while core worries such as education and employment remained unaddressed, Mr. Dipke said.

Children in remote areas are often forced to walk 7 to 10 kilometres to reach school, particularly during the monsoon when roads become muddy and waterlogged, he said.

“Ministers, MLAs and MPs should send their children to village schools for one day and make them walk to school like village children do. Then they will understand what village children face,” Mr. Dipke said.

“The life of a tribal child should have the same value as that of a Minister’s child,” he said, adding that politicians’ children go to America to study. “I studied at the same place where their children studied,” said Mr. Dipke, who was studying at Boston University before returning to India in June to lead the CJP’s agitation over the NEET paper leak.

He had seen his siblings walk to school, and hence he launched the protest from his home district.

“My sisters used to walk to school. I have seen my brothers walking to school…. Even after 15 years, the situation has not changed,” he added.

“If the government cannot do it, we will do it with the help of villagers,” Mr. Dipke stated, making it clear that the campaign was not against village officials including sarpanches.