In response to protests by villagers from the Zilla Parishad school in Maharashtra’s Hingoli district, and by the organising group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), under its ‘Fix Our Schools’ initiative, one of the teachers was fired from his position as Principal of the school.
According to a video posted on Tuesday by Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of CJP, he was sitting with the villagers during the protest, and made this announcement. The move, in effect, came after they petitioned for the dismissal of the school principal, Dipke said, and it was a “big win”.
Dipke said the protest was targeted at raising issues about how things were doing at the school, and access provided to students. He claimed that the principal used to show up inebriated to the school and his protest was directed towards seeking the head teacher’s ouster.
Dipke also said that it was Abdul’s victory, as Abdul and his father had been allegedly raided at a local government school in West Bengal after inspecting the establishment of course.
The battle isn’t over, however. The CJP founder claimed more other demands have been raised by the group and villagers, such as hiring more teachers and installing benches for students.
Protests would persist “until all these demands are met,” Dipke said. The “Fix Our Schools” campaign has been trying to raise awareness on Government Schools problems and demand for improvement in schools facilities and staffing.
The eviction of the Hingoli school principal is a positive step for the protesters, but they have not stopped their demands, instead they are asking for more comprehensive measures for the improvement of the school infrastructure and education.