Jaipur, Aug. 25 -- Schoolchildren across Rajasthan have increasingly taken to protests over the past month, demanding teachers, better buildings and basic facilities, signalling what educationists describe as an emerging wave of Gen Alpha-led activism in the state. The protests have surfaced across Bikaner, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Ajmer, Jalore, Barmer, Banswara, Bharatpur, and other districts, often producing quick administrative responses. Most recently, 69 girl students of a residential Sainik School in Bikaner took mass leave and protested at the collectorate on Sunday, alleging that they had not received uniforms four months after the school opened and that facilities for physical and military training were lacking. The most prominent protest came at Jaipur's Poddar School for students with hearing and speech impairments on August 5 over poor hostel conditions, inadequate facilities and alleged harassment. The government suspended the principal the same day. Leader of Opposition Tikaram Jully and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot later visited the students, while Congress marched from the school towards the Assembly on August 20. Elsewhere, on August 13 and 14, students of Government Higher Secondary School in Jodhawas, Thanagaji, Alwar, staged a two-day sit-in on the school premises. CJP activists subsequently reached the school, following which the administration gave written assurances on the students' demands. The protests have acquired greater significance amid a controversy over the Rajasthan Education Department's recent order restricting unauthorised entry by outsiders into government schools. Educationists and political leaders see an important distinction between the recent Gen-Z mobilisation and the protests now emerging among younger schoolchildren. While Gen-Z protests have largely involved urban, middle- and upper-middle-class students mobilising around competitive examinations and higher education, several of Rajasthan's recent school protests have involved children from rural areas, government schools and relatively disadvantaged backgrounds. Rajeev Gupta, a former Rajasthan University professor and senior sociologist, described the phenomenon through what he termed the "reference group model" - younger students observing how an older generation mobilises and adopting similar methods to raise their own concerns....