NEW DELHI: The BJP has hit back at Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke after he called for the PM CARES Fund to be used to improve infrastructure in rural government schools, saying the fund was meant for emergency and disaster relief and accusing Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal of failing to teach him “basic facts”.In a post on X, the BJP Goa unit said, “PM CARES funds are meant for emergency and disaster relief. Mr. @ArvindKejriwal, you taught your men good theatrics, but not basic facts. That’s not surprising. Anyway, when are you going to take him to Punjab? Let him inspect your “world-class schools” that the people of Punjab are fed up with.”The response came a day after Dipke said the PM CARES Fund should be used for improving rural school infrastructure.He had questioned how many government schools could have been upgraded with the Rs 8,452 crore collected under the fund.“Use PM CARES Fund for schools! Imagine how many rural schools could have been improved with Rs 8,452 crore of PM CARES,” Dipke said.Dipke’s remarks were part of his ongoing ‘School Thik Karo’ (Improve Schools) campaign, which he launched last week to highlight infrastructure and other problems in government schools.He had earlier urged the Maharashtra government to make it compulsory for education department officials to send their children to government schools, while also criticising the lack of transport facilities for students in rural areas.Dipke had called on ministers and politicians to send their children to village schools for at least a day so they could understand the difficulties faced by rural students, many of whom are forced to walk several kilometres to attend school.Earlier, Dipke posted a video showing the headmaster of a Zilla Parishad school in the village allegedly drinking alcohol and sleeping inside a classroom. The authorities suspended the teacher on Tuesday.Dipke, however, said the teacher should not leave the village until a replacement was appointed.“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 in the coming days,” he said.Dipke also claimed villagers had demanded the headmaster’s removal two years ago but education department officials had taken no action.“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 officials to study in government schools,” the CJP leader said.Dipke said such a move would bring about a drastic improvement in government schools.”People are (now) asking questions because they are concerned about education and jobs for their children. They have risen above the politics of caste and religion,” Dipke said, adding that people would not vote for political leaders if they failed to improve government schools.(With agency inputs)
