Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) co-convenor Saurav Das on Sunday dismissed Aarin Capital Chairman Mohandas Pai’s suggestion that volunteers should conduct school-level inspections and compile ground reports to push for improvements in India’s education system.

Calling the approach “slow, boring, unconnected to reality”, Das stated that similar exercises are already being carried out by NITI Aayog and independent non-governmental organisations.

His remarks came amid the CJP’s ‘School Thik Karo’ campaign, which has focused attention on the condition of government schools and broader concerns surrounding the education system.

Pai had called for volunteers to work in pairs across states and visit schools assigned to them after obtaining permission. He suggested that they inspect the facilities, prepare reports on the ground situation at the taluk level and submit the findings to state governments.

He also proposed publishing quarterly reports and engaging with citizens, arguing that reliable data would strengthen demands for change and help identify states that are lagging behind.

“Ask all your volunteers to form groups of 2 all across states. Ask them to visit schools which are allocated to them, inspect after getting permission respectfully Prepare a report on the status on the ground by Taluk and give it to the state government Then demand change armed with full data. Publish a quarterly report and talk to citizens. Now you have data on your side and citizens will respect you for your work,” Pai wrote.

He further said, "You will know which state is behind. Understand the scale of the issue. India’s school system has around 18 lakh schools, 24 cr children upto class 12, 1.3 cr faculty and staff, 50% children in govt schools and declining. This is public service If you are true and want change do this Not leading a mob to a school, abusing people, threatening teachers and acting high and mighty. Anarchy does not work Understood."

Responding to the suggestion, Das questioned the effectiveness of relying on permission-based inspections and small volunteer groups.

“Whatever you are saying is being done by both the NITI Aayog and independent NGOs. Yet you see what you see. Groups of two in unruly states, take permission and what not?” Das wrote.

“Respectfully sir, your suggestion is slow, boring, unconnected to reality. Much like the present system!” he added.

The exchange of words between Das and Pai followed a social media post by CJP leader Ashutosh Ranka about an alleged violent incident on Friday involving the party’s delegation in Rajasthan's Jaipur.

Das responded to Pai with a sarcastic invitation, saying that while many “uncles” have advice to offer, they often do not have time to participate in such causes. He asked Pai to join the CJP team on its next visit and demonstrate how the exercise should be conducted, adding, “You lead, we follow. Deal?”

Pai had criticised the CJP for allegedly taking a mob to a school and arguing that the safety of students should be the priority.

"Total rubbish. You had no business talking a mob to go to a school with young children. The villagers were right in coming together to protect their children. The safety and security of students is paramount not an outside mob. If you folks were true, 2 or 3 will visit, talk politely and do a full study not lead a mob to do anarchist publicity. The villagers have a right to defend their children," Pai said.

Ranka had posted about an alleged assault, claiming that a man identified as Salman, a B.Tech graduate in Computer Science, was attacked after visiting a school that was allegedly being run from a cow shelter.

"The guy being beaten up in the video is Salman. He is a B.Tech in Computer Science. He came because he was shocked to hear that a school is being run in a cow shelter. BJP wants our children to become anpadh gundas. The entire nation is now realising this," Ranka said.

According to the CJP, members of its team who went to inspect a local government school, reportedly being run from a makeshift shed, were allegedly confronted by a mob.

Garvit Bhirani is a journalist based in Gurugram. He is a Deputy Chief Content Producer at LiveMint, where he covers national and international news stories, focusing on accuracy and compelling storytelling for readers.

With a total of six years of experience in journalism, he has previously worked with Vaco Binary Semantics for Google, taking on the role of news curation lead, and reported from the field on health, education, and agriculture stories for 101reporters and News9. He has also served as a content editor for entertainment and news media organisations.

Garvit holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and mass communication from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Gurugram University, respectively. During college days, he joined India’s only non-profit student journalism network, where he anchored daily news updates and produced his own weekly show called ‘Data Fix’.

He was selected for the YES Foundation Media for Social Change Fellowship in Delhi, the Talking Data to the Fourth Pillar residential workshop, and the VOICE Fellowship in Pune.

He holds certificates in COVID-19-verification reporting, data journalism, food & agriculture, tech policy, media literacy and countering misinformation, and tackling election disinformation courses from Thomson Foundation, IndiaSpend, The Dialogue, US Mission in India, and AFP.

He can be reached on LinkedIn or on @garvitbhirani on X

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