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In recent weeks, school students across the country have launched protests against the poor conditions of their schools. The protests are being referred to as the “Gen Alpha” protests, a nod to the recent “Gen Z” protests that broke out in Delhi and spread around India.
Protesting students have sat at the entrance gates to schools and on roads, locked up staff members, and marched to the local authorities’ offices to present their demands. Their demonstrations have prompted the Cockroach Janata Party to launch the School Thik Karo, or Fix the Schools, campaign.
Students and Cockroach Janata Party activists have uploaded videos to social media, showing dilapidated classrooms, some with plaster crumbling from the roofs, missing benches and desks, clogged toilets and discoloured drinking water.
The picture emerging from the protests is in stark contrast with India’s official data which states that 99% of government schools in the country have toilet facilities and 99.6% have drinking water facilities.
The data is hosted on the Unified District Information System for Education, also known as UDISE Plus.
It includes details for each school, such as the number of students enrolled, the number of teachers on staff, the number and status of classrooms, toilets, libraries and laboratories, and information about drinking water facilities.
But activists and experts say there is a reason why UDISE data does not always correspond to ground realities: the platform collects data from school principals. “The staff feels the need to paint a bright picture of the state of the school because they feel that their jobs would be at risk if they admit to failures in the school,” said Aektha Chanda, an activist from Rajasthan.
The mismatch in UDISE data and the ground reality becomes more evident when seen at the level of individual schools.
Scroll examined data from the platform pertaining to five of the schools whose students have been protesting, in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. While UDISE data presented a robust picture of the schools, video evidence and testimonies from the protests showed that the situation on the ground was far from satisfactory.
Scroll sent queries to the relevant district education officers and other officials, seeking their responses to these discrepancies. This story will be updated if they respond.
Alwar, Rajasthan
The data that the Government UPS Jodhawas school, in Alwar, Rajasthan, submitted to the official portal in 2025-’26 indicated the school had six classrooms, out of which only one needed minor repairs.
The school administration also claimed that the school had two toilets and that both were functional. The data also indicated that the school had a functional drinking water system.
But protesting students have claimed otherwise.
They began a sit-in protest after a slab of a roof in one unused classroom collapsed in early August. According to news reports, 174 students had to share three classrooms because the rest of the building was dilapidated. The students demanded that repairs be carried out to the classrooms and toilets, that a water filter be installed, and that more teachers be deployed at the school.
The protests received a filip after Ashutosh Ranka, a spokesperson of the Cockroach Janata Party, visited the school to support the students. The visit drew particular attention after he got into a heated argument with Bharatiya Janata Party workers, who allegedly tried to bar him from entering. After the protests and Ranka’s visit, authorities promised to carry out the necessary repairs.
A Class 10 student from the school, who spoke to Scroll on the condition of anonymity, said that students had suffered considerably in recent years as a result of the poor infrastructure and facilities. “Every time it rained, the classroom roof leaked and only three rooms were usable, forcing us to cram in there,” she said. She added that the school only received electricity for two hours a day. rendering the fans useless most of the time. Further, the school’s toilets were unhygienic, and students and teachers had to clean them.
The student noted that repairs had begun now, but for the moment, they had to use the same classrooms. “If they don’t keep their promise, we will protest again,” she said. “We fought for the right reasons so there is no fear, so we will do it again if necessary.”
Jaipur, Rajasthan
The data filed by the administration of the Government Seth Anandilal Poddar Badhir Senior Secondary School, for speech and hearing impaired students, indicated that the school had 28 classrooms for 599 students, and that the classrooms did not need any repairs, major or minor. Further, according to the data, all of the eight toilets in the school were in a functional condition, as was its drinking water facility. The data also showed that the school had 50 teachers.
But the school’s protesting student contradicted some of these claims.
According to news reports, earlier this month, one of the students had been injured after ceiling plaster had fallen on them. The videos that students posted on social media captured other problems, such as crumbling, dilapidated buildings, and unhygienic and non-functional toilets. According to reports, they also decried drinking water shortages, as well as a shortage of teachers.
Kishunpur, Uttar Pradesh
In the data submitted to the government portal, the administration of Sarvodaya Inter School in Kishunpur had declared that it had 19 classrooms for a school strength of 1,883 students, of which only six needed minor repairs. Further, according to the data, all of the five toilets in the school were functional. The school also declared it had electricity available on campus, as well as a library.
But the school’s students went on a protest about the dire infrastructure at the institution. In one news report, the district inspector of schools lists some of the students’ complaints, including that the school had broken benches and chairs, leaking roofs, a shortage of drinking water, poor sanitation, a lack of fans and erratic electricity. The students also stated that the school did not have a library. The inspector stated that steps were being taken to address the problems raised by the students.
Another school in the state, the Gangwa Ka Dera Primary School, claimed that the school was approachable by all-weather road. The school’s students, however, walked a five-kilometre stretch to the district magistrate’s office to demand a road to their school.
Gaya, Bihar
According to the data submitted by the Simuara Middle School, in Gaya, the school had 11 classrooms, out of which four needed major repairs. The administration claimed that both the school’s toilets were functional and that drinking water facilities were also functional.
But students of the school marched four kilometres to the sub-divisional office and demanded that authorities fix the school’s problems – they said these included dysfunctional toilets, poor electricity supply, missing fans, poor water quality and the poor quality of their midday meals.
Students in other schools, such as in Kishunpur, had also talked about the problem of the lack of fans, which left them in immense discomfort, particularly through hot summer months. However, the government portal does not include any information on the availability of fans in schools.
Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh
In the data it submitted to the portal, the administration of the HSS Tatam School in Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh stated that the school was approachable by an all-weather road.
Students, however, conducted a 18-hour long agitation and walked 40 km towards the district headquarters to demand a road to their school. The students claimed that the road was severely neglected, and became particularly unusable during the monsoons.
Unreliable data
In the past, allegations have emerged about schools being pressured to submit favourable data. In 2023, for instance, news was reported that education officials were allegedly instructing schools in Maharashtra to submit false data on the portal.
Jean Dreze, an economist who has surveyed schools in Jharkhand, said that data collection on schools was essential, but argued that certain data points on the portal were difficult to believe, such as the 2025-’26 figure of 99% for government schools with toilet facilities. “In Jharkhand too, 99% of schools supposedly have toilets,” he said. “It’s bogus. When you pay a visit to the schools, you can clearly see that that isn’t the truth.”
Anil Roy, an education activist from Bihar, echoed these concerns. “If you go check the schools, the toilets are lying unused because there is no one to clean them and they have stopped being functional,” he said.
In Rajasthan, a state seeing some of the most intense protests, crumbling school infrastructure has been a major concern.
Last year, in July, a part of a classroom roof collapsed in a school in Jhalawar district, killing seven students and injuring 27 other students. According to news reports, students noticed debris begin to fall and warned teachers about it, but were told to remain quiet. At around 8 am, the roof gave way, burying 35 students.
The problem with the self-reporting data system is glaringly apparent in the case of this school.
In its 2024-’25 and 2023-’24 data, the school had stated that it had four classrooms, of which only two needed minor repairs. The school’s current data on the government portal indicates that all the four classrooms are in good condition.
Chanda said that after the July 2025 incident, the Rajasthan government compiled a list of schools that had unsafe buildings, then decided to demolish 2,699 schools and make repairs to around2,000 schools. “After the incident, the government demolished many schools, but not all schools were repaired,” Chanda said. “Some schools temporarily moved to other spots, but other than that, not much was done.”
Chanda said that she had observed that government-designated “model schools”, tended to have good infrastructure. “But you go one kilometre away and you will find a school that is almost falling apart,” she said.
The absence of water and sanitation facilities had emerged as a key problem in her surveys of schools, particularly for female students. She explained that many mothers said that they wanted to send their daughters to school but that the lack of toilets was a major obstacle. “They tell me the conditions are not good. Students are having to go home to use the toilet or to drink water,’ she said.
Activists are hopeful about the protests. “I’ve always been of the belief that the improvement of schools can only happen once it becomes a people’s movement,” Chanda said. “I think that time has finally arrived.”
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