C4C 44 | Dr. Rita Shome’s Reflections on Indian Youth’s Non-Violent Resistance as "Cockroaches"

Oct 2

22 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

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TRANSCRIPT

Stella Micheong Cheong [00:00:00]

Hello, listeners! and welcome to the Conversations4Citizenship podcast. I am your host, Stella Cheong. In May 2026, a comment by India’s Chief Justice comparing unemployed young people to “cockroaches” and “parasites” sparked an unexpected youth movement. What began as a satirical online campaign called the Cockroach Janta Party (hereafter ‘CJP’) quickly grew into a major protest movement, raising questions about how Gen Z is using digital platforms to challenge power and reshape citizenship and democracy in India and beyond. Today, we’re taking a closer look at this fascinating pro-democracy movement led by India’s Gen Z and exploring what it tells us about the future of democracy and citizenship. To help us understand this remarkable movement, we are delighted to welcome Dr. Rita Shome, Assistant Professor of Education at Sukumar Sengupta Mahabidyalaya in West Bengal, India. Hello, Rita. Welcome to Conversations4Citizenship. How are you?

Rita Shome [00:01:31] Yeah, I'm absolutely fine. Thank you so much for this initiative. Thank you so much.

Stella Micheong Cheong[00:01:42] It's wonderful to have you with us. So, Rita, would you like to introduce yourself and how your research journey led us here? Yeah. Myself, I am an educator and researcher in the field of education. I have been teaching for about two decades.

Rita Shome [00:01:57] It's 21 years. My recent research, actually, my research interest is gradually moved beyond conventional questions of teaching and learning toward peace education, citizenship, values, gender, empowerment, and social responsibility. More recently, I have been developing what I call preventive peace pedagogy. I am interested in how education can prepare young people, not only for employment, but also for responsible participation in society.

Rita Shome [00:02:31] So, when I began observing the CJP movement, what attracted my attention was not simply its political dimension. I became interested in the educational question underneath it. What happens when young people feel that systems designed to give them opportunities are no longer trusted? Education is not only preparation for employment, it is preparation for citizenship.

Stella Micheong Cheong [00:03:03] So, here, I'm also to introduce that part of observation I have observed through the CJP movement. Yeah, let's move on to the next question. So, you already talked about the Cockroach Janata Party, that movement, but I just wonder, as a foreigner, you know, the young people in India are calling for more equal access to education and expressing a lot of frustration about unemployment. But then these are issues we see among young people in so many countries today. So, I'm just wondering, why have this concern become such a powerful political agenda, political issue in India, in particular? That's a very good question. I think, you have already mentioned the cockroach and the parasite thing. So, we can start with it.

Rita Shome[00:04:07] I think the power of the world came from the fact that young people did not simply accept the level, they appropriate it. And your question is why? Why this type of agenda became so powerful? Because in India, examination is not only the examination.

Rita Shome[00:04:29] An examination creates the level of social well -being of any personality. So, when this came, this effort, this, what can I say, the levelling of the people as cockroach or the parasite, it became so overwhelming.

Rita Shome[00:04:55] Because something intended as an insult was transformed into an identity, then into humour, then eventually into collective agency. Why collective agency? Why this? That was your question, I think.

Rita Shome[00:05:11] Psychologically, that is fascinating. Instead of saying, you have humiliated us, the response became, if you call us cockroaches, then we will turn the cockroach into our symbol. That transformation from humiliation to agency is one of the most interesting aspects of the movement.

Rita Shome[00:05:33] At the same time, I think we should distinguish the original controversy, what you were just trying to drag out, that from the movement that subsequently developed around it, the Chief Justice, you have already mentioned, later clarified the context of his remarks. So, I have distinguished between the original controversy and the meaning that the young people subsequently constructed around it. Earlier, I mentioned that examinations are not only examination.

Rita Shome[00:06:12] One examination can interpret a whole life of opportunity, the potentiality, all came under the question mark. If you are achieving the exam, you are tracking that exam, you have the number, you know the niche.

Stella Micheong Cheong [00:06:37] Oh, Rita, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. But as you mentioned about that exam, I've heard the catalyst seems to have the NEET, the Medical Entrance Exam Peraper leak. Is that right?

Rita Shome[00:07:03] Yeah. So, as an educator, how did you and your students experience that period? Of course, they are very frustrated. Definitely. For an educator, the most disturbing part, what I have already told you that any examination are not simply examination in India.

Rita Shome[00:07:30] They carry enormous emotional and economic significance. Families invest years of preparation and often considerable financial resources. Students begin to connect their examination performance with their identity. And their future.

Rita Shome[00:07:50] So, when the allegation of examination irregularities, the damage goes beyond marks. It damages trust. And when students lose trust in the fairness of the system, we have an educational crisis as well as an administrative crisis. Now, we need to ask whether our education system is producing only examination performers or resilient and capable young citizens.

Rita Shome[00:08:25] So, no doubt, this is a question arising. As educators, we must have to learn and listen to the underneath walls. Okay. Okay.

Stella Micheong Cheong [00:08:35] Yeah, makes sense. Yeah. So, the education systems mainly focus on the enhancing test taker in India. So, the examination is quite essential to the young people, right? So, then I would like to move on slightly, the focus on this movement. What really stuck, what really stand out to me is how young people, this movement, and how many young women, women have been at the forefront of this movement. But at the same time, we've seen women protesters being doxxed, harassed, and slaughtered online. What has the experience been like for some of these young women? And what does it tell us about the relationship between gender and political dissent in India today?

Rita Shome[00:09:48] Exactly. It's a very nice question. See, youth movements are never gender neutral. Young women may participate very visibly in democratic movements, but their visibility can expose them to forms of gendered harassment, as you mentioned, that male participants may experience differently. Now, the question is, digital citizenship, therefore, cannot simply mean just knowing how to use social media. It also has to include digital ethics, respect, privacy, safety, and the ability to disagree without dehumanizing another person. That is the most important thing, I think.

Rita Shome[00:10:32] Now, when we are thinking about civic literacy, citizenship, we must have to think about digital citizenship also. This movement, it gets a platform on social media and the hype also from the social media. But what about our life on social media? That I already mentioned to you, digital citizenship is not only just knowing how to use social media.

Rita Shome[00:11:04] When we are using the social media for this movement, at the same time, we are using the same platform to harass, to becoming someone, to making some expression of dehumanizing another person. So, we need to think, we need to evolve the system. How do we make the future generation of the upcoming generation? We are, as we are living in this generation also, about our digital citizenship, our digital life.

Rita Shome[00:11:42] That movement also gives us this feedback, what I think, personally. Yeah, I do agree. Especially in the age of AI, the digital citizenship education plays a key role in teaching young people, the using, ethically using the social media, any other digitalized device and tools. And we are seeing a lot of malicious comment, online hate speech on the social media platform, as you mentioned.

Stella Micheong Cheong [00:12:20] But at the same time, while you're talking, pop up in my mind about the concept of the legacy of colonial on the critical thinking. I think the India education system, or as you mentioned, this exam -centered education system, or credential -obsessed system affected by the British, I mean, designed under the British rule to produce clerks rather than critical citizens. I'm not sure whether you agree or not. But how much of today's crisis do you see as a colonial inheritance and how much as a post -independence failure? Would you like to share your thoughts?

Rita Shome[00:13:24] Yeah, definitely. Actually, I would resist reducing it to either or Colonial education centrally contributed to an examination and credential -oriented structure. But independent India has also reproduced and expanded many of those structures. The deeper issue is that education can become overly focused on certification rather than capability.

Rita Shome[00:13:52] Young people are encouraged to compete for limited opportunities, but they're not always given enough space to develop critical thinking, creativity, emotional resilience, civic competencies, and the ability to navigate uncertainty. So, we need to move from an examination -centered learner to a capability -centered learner.

Rita Shome[00:14:25] So, my argument here is that maybe there are certain issues, there are certain contributions, colonial education certainly contributed to the exam -oriented, what I earlier mentioned, that credential -oriented structure.

Rita Shome [00:14:44] Now, the question is, what kind of education does a democratic India need? If we want democratic citizens, we cannot provide only examination training. We need democratic learning environments. That's another question we need to focus on this.

Stella Micheong Cheong [00:15:10] Okay, thank you. Thank you, Rita. Because you mentioned your capability -centered learner, am I right? Yeah, yeah. Would you like to elaborate on the concept of capability -centered learner in India? What kind of capability? Yeah. Actually, capability -centered learner means, it is my concept.

Rita Shome[00:15:33] I am thinking after observing this movement, after the issues, the trust issues that is arising all around India, specifically in the students, in the young people. Now, after the CJP movement, it is crystal clear that students are not getting enough trust to the system. Which system? Why this, as you asked earlier, why this knit issue became so bigger issue?

Rita Shome[00:16:08] Because of some exam issues. Now, why exam is so important? Because in our society, it is imposed that a student, a participant, a learner, and as a teacher, we are only teaching exam -centric course. We are only training them for the preparation of examination.

Rita Shome[00:16:31] But my question is, if we are trying to develop that democratic citizenship, so we must have to develop that kind of capabilities that helps learners to think critically, creative way, in the way of, they should have the emotional resilience and civic competence. Capability means all the aspects they can leave their life beyond examination. They just don't have to prove themselves through the path of examination.

Rita Shome[00:17:10] We need to first accept as the personality, their potentiality, then upgrade. But here, we are just judging and labeling them. Even the thought, the quote, cockroach or the parasite, it is also a level that we are just labeling them. So, we have to think in another way and we have to evolve the system.

Rita Shome[00:17:35] How could we make the capability -centered learner? How could they already have the potentiality?

Rita Shome[00:17:49] Yeah. So, we have to appreciate and define the path of education of the system. We have to redesign our system to manifest that potentiality, to drag out that potentiality. That is what I was trying to put as capability -centered learner. No student should think that if I am failing in an examination, there are suicide issues, you know. Why people are, why the students are getting so frustrated that they became suicidal?

Rita Shome[00:18:15] Because one examination is making their whole life, labeling their whole life. So, capability means becoming that human being, emotionally, socially, holistically. We need to think about it. We need to design. That's pedagogy is the most important thing that I mentioned earlier.

Stella Micheong Cheong [00:18:32] Oh, wow. Thank you so much for sharing the concept of capability -centered learner. I love, I love that concept, Rita. And let's move on slightly on the Asian perspective because before recording this with you, we already met Bangladesh, young Gen Z, separate Gen Z in Nepal and Bangladesh. So, we are seeing Gen Z -led protests happening across the region, Nepal, Bangladesh, now in India. And so, what do you think the Cockroach movement means for young people who are watching these events unfold across South and Southeast Asia or beyond?

Rita Shome[00:19:35] Yeah, what can I say? I think there are some common features. Although we should be careful not to treat all Gen Z movements as identical. Across societies, the young people are increasingly comfortable with digital organization, organizing, digitally organizing, horizontal networks, humor, visual communication, and rapid mobilization.

Rita Shome[00:20:05] What we experienced last few years. They also appear less willing to accept institutions simply because they're institutions. Very. I mean, they need to, they need to address the accountability and responsiveness.

Rita Shome[00:20:29] Because if it is an institution, we can't be agreed at all. That is the perception. Perhaps the common grammar is not a particular ideology in case of Nepal, in case of Bangladesh, in case of India, the scenario, maybe we are, we are making it is a common grammar because Gen Zs are coming up. But the particular ideology may be different.

Rita Shome[00:20:59] It is a demand to be heard. But my personal perception is it is a demand to be heard and it is the common area. The technology is new. The desire for dignity is not.

Rita Shome[00:21:17] So, the common thing we may experience that all in this movement, we see they use these memes short videos, humor, visual symbols, social media networks to create collective identities very quickly. But beneath the technology, I think there is something deeper. Young people want to be heard and taken seriously. In all cases, you can match that in case of Nepal, in case of Bangladesh, or in case of India also.

Rita Shome[00:21:53] They are demanding for voice, dignity, accountability, and participation. What, what is the most important thing? That we need to listen what they are trying to actually communicate. We need to heard them.

Stella Micheong Cheong [00:22:12] All right. Oh, Rita, thank you. Thank you so much. And given the time constraint, and also my colleague, Adam Lang, have a lot of questions. So, this is my last question. If you imagine if you could sit down with one of your young, your own students who feel like a cockroach, unemployed, exhausted, and unheard, what would you say to them? And, and what give you hope for this generation?

Rita Shome[00:22:57] First of all, I tell them, you are not a cockroach. Your unemployment does not define your own. Your examination result does not define your intelligence. And your inability to find an opportunity does not mean that you have failed as a human being. But I would also tell them, don't allow frustration to make away your urgency.

Rita Shome[00:23:24] Find your voice. Find your community. Question justice. Demand accountability.

Rita Shome[00:23:32] But do it without losing your empathy and your humanity. And perhaps this is what education should ultimately do. Not merely preparing a young person to pass an examination or to making a money -making machine. But help that young person remains human.

Rita Shome[00:23:57] When life becomes difficult, this is the most important thing. When life is becoming difficult and you are feeling the desire to be violent, and that moment also recalling our own selves, remain human and communicate in a non -violent way. That should be the, what I mentioned earlier, capability -centered learner. That should be the whole thing, I think.

Stella Micheong Cheong [00:24:26] And I definitely appreciate the community. Get all these emotions to my children, my students. Oh, wow. Oh, thank you so much for, yeah, contributing the conversation for Siddhijin sharing your thoughts, reflections on this Cockroach Janta Party movement. This is, well, honestly, it's not only inspiring, but also touching. Thank you so much. And now I'm going to pass over to my colleague, Kamille. Kamille?

Kamille Beye [00:25:06] Thank you so much, Dr. Rita. It was such a lovely discussion. I have several questions that I want to ask. So my first question is around what you mentioned about the desire for dignity. vI love that phrase. And, and you said the desire for dignity is not new. And if we know that dignity, the desire for it is not new, how can people in India, but not just India, but really globally, help students unlearn some of these habits that have been culturally embedded for generations? And so I'm thinking about one, you mentioned how the students were somewhat complacent in regarding the questioning of institutions.

Rita Shome[00:25:49] And now they're starting to do that a bit more, especially in regards to this exam. So I wanted to know, how do you think India shifts from here to embed the idea of second chances for students or help them to understand that there can be different types of assessment that can show or demonstrate a student's understanding or ability to do something while still letting a student know that they're worth more than whatever the assessment is? That's very interesting.

Rita Shome[00:26:17] Actually, that's why research needs, what you are asking, how to embed this concept with the existing education system. That's why we need to do more research and we need to be more observant toward this kind of scenario. That is something made me interested to observe closely the CJP movement.

Rita Shome[00:26:45] Because I think it is completely my personal opinion that if we vvwant to create that kind of education system, we need to focus on our, not only our policies, because Indian education policies are one of the best, but we need to implement, we need to research on the implementation part. So what I find, what I feel that there is the gap in the pedagogy section. How to implement that concept?

Rita Shome[00:27:24] Maybe we have a concept of very much what ideal citizenship or something like that, but how could we implement it? It needs more close observation and research to all the paths we have already passed. So for me, I think we can, we need to be interested in how education can prepare young people to recognize injustice, communicate disagreement, regulate emotions, empathize with others, and participate constructively before frustration turns into destructive conflict.

Rita Shome[00:28:09] So what is something we may heard about peace education? Peace education should not mean teaching young people to remain silent. A peaceful society must also have citizens who can question, disagree, and demand accountability without restoring to violence or what I already mentioned, dehumanization. I mean, we need to learn how to dissent, and we need to inculcate this in the practice of education.

Rita Shome[00:28:41] That's why educators' perception in this scenario is most important. Look, CJP began as a satirical, digitally driven youth movement that increasingly developed into a civic mobilization. So what is the perception we or the educators or the authority are getting from this total scenario?

Rita Shome[00:29:16] Here, examination crisis became the fuel, but is it the instant spark? No, there was something very much rooted, very much rooted. So we need to identify that root cause. Maybe the main was the doorway.

Rita Shome[00:29:39] The deeper issue was the accumulated frustration. So the educational question is not whether young people should protest. It is whether we are teaching them how to question, how to disagree, how to organize and demand change democratically and nonviolently. So it is, I think, a future research can be demonstrated through this path.

Kamille Beye [00:30:05] Thank you. I have one more question before I pass it over. So we talked a lot about the digital mobilization of the Indian youth, and it reminded me of the Arab Spring, not to say that the movements are the same, but how the young people were able to get the word out very quickly and then multiply their numbers to make change. So I guess in the Arab Spring, it was definitely more political and the idea of corruption. But I was thinking about the idea of accountability in India. You had mentioned this earlier, but I remember, and please correct me if I'm wrong, what I read about the cockroach movement was around the leaking of the test questions, like the paper leaks, and then, of course, the failure for accountability. And if we go back to this idea of digital citizenship and holding people accountable and the critical thinking piece that goes with it and the ethics around digital communication, how do we, one, deal with this higher level, the systematic situation of the accountability mechanism? So we talked about leaking. So how do you, I mean, you get rid of the Minister of Education. That's one thing. But there are many people on many levels to this tier test. So then when you're talking about addressing the accountability and then, of course, dealing with how people treat one another online, they reacted by calling the protesting students bad names and, of course, the doxing type situation. So it's not just the young people. It's the older people as well, people in positions of power. And so when you have these two groups of people really going at it, I think it's really hard for people to see the humanity in the other, especially when they're dealing with an institution. So I'm just curious as to how you reconcile that, considering you're still in the midst of researching and thinking about this process, but then you know you're going against a cultural and institutional practice that has been deeply embedded while people know they benefit while others will not. Am I saying that OK?

Rita Shome[00:32:31] Actually, if you observe closely the whole movement, we may we may took some event discreetly, but there is some holistic view. There are some phases, as you as you mentioned, the digital satire, youth identity, physical protest, national civic mobilization. And eventually you may know the name Sonam Wangchu, who get into the movement and his hunger strike up to 20 days.

Rita Shome[00:33:07] So there are people who are involved in the system and to making the system corrupt or to developing the mistrust toward the society. But there are also people who are coming across with the youth. Maybe it is a youth -led program. And presently, after this resignation of education minister, it may seem that the protest ended.

Rita Shome[00:33:43] But is it really? Protest ends does not mean civic engagement ended. Many people and beyond the generations, because students, parents and educationists like Sonam Wangchu who came together in a single platform and the demand now just evolving another ship that is the education reform. So maybe there is something underneath and the very core deep rooted corruption and other things are there.

Rita Shome[00:34:21] But there are also mobilizations. And the interesting thing, maybe there is also dilemma, how to how the CGP will perform next is the question now. Do they participate in electoral program or they just be the pressure group or the social mobilization group? Those are the question.

Rita Shome[00:34:44] But the main thing is that the society getting connected physically and digitally also through this journey. Social media was the doorway. But after that, what happened? Within this three months, what happened?

Rita Shome[00:35:04] It was not just a quick incident. I think we have to look into the deep rooted cause, deep rooted emotions and deep rooted attachment that all the people getting together. So maybe we have observed that CGP is primarily a youth civic movement. It is predominantly nonviolent.

Rita Shome[00:35:31] Mobilization provides an interesting case through which the educators, the administrators and the builders of this nation, they can get the feedback. Because I think it is a feedback signal from our students. Everything is there. The corruption, the chain of the corruption, everything is there.

Rita Shome[00:36:00] But we have to move on. We have to drag out the solution. And it is not overnight job. Definitely it is not overnight job.

Kamille Beye [00:36:10] We have to go through all the observations of this movement. And definitely it will be sorted out over time. Thank you so much. I'd like to pass it to my colleague, Adam.

Adam Lang [00:36:22] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Rita. Thank you so much for your contributions. While you've been talking, I've been reflecting on a few people that have written on this whole area and why we came about as a podcast. And one of them is Michael Apple and his book, The Struggle for Democracy and Education. And goodness me, I think what's been going on in your country is significant in that respect. And I just wondered, do you, with the hunger strikes you mentioned, the demonstrations on the streets, I think the education minister has now been removed. Do you see this as a sort of eruption or rupture? Or do you see this as something more long term, not just in your country, but beyond?

Rita Shome[00:37:27] Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why we need to closely observe this scenario, because it can be an example for the whole world. Now, what I perceive is that our world is a world -loving world. You can see surroundings. We are becoming very much world -loving people, very much expressing our emotions through violence. But this movement, I was just observing the connection between the CGP movement and my research work on peace education and peace pedagogy.

Rita Shome[00:37:57] Whenever we are thinking about youth -led civic action, isn't it creating a connection with active citizenship? Whenever we are thinking about protest over perceived injustice, isn't it connecting the social justice? Peaceful collective action, isn't it connecting non -violent action? Demanding accountability.

Rita Shome[00:38:22] I think it is directly related to democratic participation. Public dialogues, what came up already during this movement, they are creating the memes, they are creating the joke, which is directly leading to the civic literacy and organizing through social media. It is questioning the digital citizenship. That's why this is a case to study throughout the world, how we can express our dissent in a very non -violent way.

Rita Shome[00:38:59] We can keep our personal opinion. We have the right to express our personal opinion, but our culture in the whole world, not in perspective of India, we are not promoting that culture, actually. So it is the time to get united and holistically work. Maybe in different parts of the globe, we are observing Zenzis are coming up, raising their voice, but are we enough to give them the opportunity to learn how to express our dissent non -violently? We need to promote that culture. We all are learning in this scenario.

Adam Lang [00:39:40] Thank you. Just touching again on the topic that you were talking about earlier, which we're interested in our podcast, is what's going on around the world. We've looked at Bangladesh, we looked at Nepal, we touched on other parts, what was going on in Korea as well. There's Madagascar and so on. What do you say, picking up from what you said, that some of what's going on, you need to understand it in terms of the culture, the infrastructure of individual countries, maybe regional, local dynamics, or you said there was some common ground, but do you think that that's too simplistic a way of looking at these movements?

Rita Shome[00:40:36] Do we need to drill down much more deeply into them? Actually, I have not researched in this particular thing that you are questioning, but it is my personal feeling that maybe there is some geographical or regional or democratic features of regional culture that we are promoting. But the key role is education. The education system we are promoting, the mind culture we are promoting to our students, how we are upbringing our students to become democratic.

Rita Shome[00:41:20] I have observed the core area, particularly in this scenario, that we need to develop our students, their resilience, their adaptability, their survival, and the ability to survive difficult environments, but without losing empathy and basic humanitarian values. So the question, the checklist may be there, are we promoting that kind of democratic environment to our students?

Rita Shome[00:42:02] Maybe there are differences for culture, nation, democracy, but somewhere, if we are not cultivating the global citizenship, we are actually threatening our people. So we need to be united with our distinct characteristics. We need to cultivate our own culture, but without losing the faith on humanity.

Adam Lang [00:42:30] Okay, thank you. Well, Rita, we're coming to the end of the podcast. Is there anything that you wanted to say that we haven't asked you or you wanted to put across before we conclude today?

Rita Shome[00:42:51] Yeah, definitely. But I have already mentioned that, first of all, thank you from the bottom of my heart for this opportunity, for sharing my thoughts and emotions with you. But one request, as I'm observing CJP, and my request is that we should not look at CJP only as a political protest. We should look at it as a signal from young people to the education system. They are saying, we want fairness, we want dignity.

Rita Shome[00:43:34] I have already mentioned, we want it to be heard. That also I mentioned, we want institutions to be accountable. Now, the question is that we need, we as educators, we need to listen to that message. And that is where I think preventive peace pedagogy becomes more relevant.

Rita Shome[00:43:57] Peace education should not teach young people to remain silent. In face of injustice, they need to move on. It should help them learn how to disagree. I have already mentioned, I just repeat, that we in everywhere, in the total democratic area of the globe, in every country, we need to raise our generation.

Rita Shome[00:44:24] We need to get that larger education and listen, that we need to become that human being, that we can question decently, we can appreciate others' opinion, whether we are totally disaggregated. That is the only thing we can develop a better world where we are living. It is only possible through this kind of education. Thank you.

Adam Lang [00:44:52] Thank you. Thank you very much. Well, Rita, so many thanks for your contribution and your passion that's come through very strongly today and your honesty and your commitment. I'm just reflecting a little bit on some of the points that have reflected with me. I mean, you started by saying you're approaching this as an educational question in a contemporary world. And I really like what you said. What kind of education does a democratic India need? I think that's a really big question. But nevertheless, you've looked at that. I've looked, you touched on the sort of common themes with other movements, but also the differences. We didn't get a chance really to talk about demography and how that's playing out, but another time. But it was very interesting to hear about your preparation for citizenship as well. It is for work, but it's for much more than that. And I think that's the point that I want to take away from today very much indeed. So I'm going to be closing this episode of Conversations for Citizenship.

Adam Lang [00:46:09] I'm Adam.Thank you very much for listening to Conversations for Citizenship. We hope you enjoyed this episode. Be sure to subscribe to Conversations for Citizenship and look for us on Twitter at C4C, lowercase ed, Conversations for Citizenship. And a transcript of today's interesting conversation with Dr Rita Shome can be found on www .bridgecitizen.org This episode of Conversations for Citizenship was produced by me, Adam Lang, Stella Cheong and Kamille Bay, recorded and sound mixed by Stella Cheong. So many thanks. Take good care.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Hosted by Dr. Stella Cheong, this episode took an in-depth look at the 'Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)' movement led by Indian youth, which was sparked by remarks from the Chief Justice of India. Through a conversation with Dr. Rita Shome, we were able to confirm that this phenomenon is not merely a backlash, but a painful critique of an existing education system that relies solely on exams and the rampant issue of youth unemployment. During the discussion, the importance of preventive peace education emerged strongly as a means to raise students not as simple test-taking machines, but as 'capability-centered learners' equipped with both critical thinking and empathy.

EPISODE NOTES

This episode of Conversations4Citizenship examined from multiple angles the serious educational and social crisis behind the "Cockroach Janata Party (CJP)" movement led by Indian Gen Z. Having lost deep trust in the system due to incidents such as the NEET medical entrance exam paper leaks, Indian youth transformed the insulting label thrown at them into a proactive symbol for non-violent digital solidarity and the restoration of lost dignity. Dr. Rita Shome pointed out that this desperate cry from the youth should not be reduced to a mere political protest, but rather embraced as powerful feedback directed at society and educational institutions. In particular, it was deeply resonant to emphasize going beyond a culture that evaluates an individual student's worth solely based on grades and certificates, and instead actively fostering "capability-centered learners" who can confront injustice non-violently and communicate healthily with others. Furthermore, it was a valuable conversation that made us realize once again how urgent the task is today to practice cyber ethics within social media spaces and cultivate responsible digital citizens.

CITATION

Cheong, S. M.-C, Lang, A. and Beye, K. (Hosts). (2022–present). S5_ Episode 44 | Dr. Rita Shome’s Reflections on Indian Youth’s Non-Violent Resistance as "Cockroaches" [Audio podcast]. Crossings. Retrieved from https://conversations4citizenship.com/episodes/episode-44-conversation-with-dr-rita-shome-SJXsFapF

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