The Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) staged its second protest in Pune on Thursday, demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and announcing a nationwide protest drive next week. The CJP is scheduled to hold demonstrations in Lucknow, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Jaipur and Delhi from June 12 to 20.
At the Pune rally, which attracted a crowd of about 1,000 people, the CJP also raised five new demands. Apart from seeking Pradhan’s resignation, the party called for compensation to students affected by paper leaks, holding re-exams within three days, and extending age limits for candidates affected by exam delays.
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Let’s look at each request, one by one:
1. Compensation for disruption of exams
The first requirement of the CJP is to compensate students when an exam is cancelled, leaked or delayed at the last minute.
The party claimed that students incur significant expenses for travel, accommodation, training, study materials and preparation, while also facing great mental pressure when exams are disrupted.
“Students spend money on travel, accommodation, training, study materials and preparation. They also bear enormous psychological pressure when exams are disrupted. The government must provide $10,000 per student to cover the costs of trains, buses, accommodation and psychological difficulties. For exam results delayed by more than one month, each student should receive an additional 10,000 per month due to administrative failure,” the CJP press release said.
2. Mandatory re-test for 72 hours
The CJP called for every major examination to have a pre-determined fallback date and a comprehensive contingency plan before the test is conducted.
“If the test is cancelled, leaked, hacked or disrupted for any reason, authorities must be prepared to conduct a retest within 72 hours,” the statement said.
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3. Paper-based assessment for paper-based exams
The party also demanded that tests conducted on paper be evaluated manually and not through digital systems.
The CJP argued that technological disparities in educational infrastructure across the country make a complete transition to digital assessment premature.
“Until every school and examination center has access to reliable, high-quality technological facilities, paper-based examinations must be assessed through a transparent paper-based process,” the statement read.
4. Automatic extension of the age limit for late exams
The CJP said that no student should lose a job opportunity due to delays caused by the government.
As for the fourth demand, the party called for the automatic extension of age limits whenever the exam is postponed, canceled, or its results are delayed. According to the CJP, the duration of delay should be added to the minimum eligibility age so that students are not penalized for administrative failure.
5. Mandatory independent technology audits
For all computer-based tests, the CJP required independent third-party audits of each testing center at least seven days before the test.
“Hardware, software, internet connectivity and infrastructure must be tested beforehand. If a center fails the audit, it must be replaced immediately,” it said in a statement.
