Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition, held a press conference condemning the Indian government over frequent exam paper leaks and student protests.
The accusations highlight a growing crisis in the national education system, where systemic failures and financial burdens on families are creating widespread instability among students.
Gandhi said the education system is "rigged" and demanded the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. He cited a record of 152 paper leaks in 10 years [1]. The Leader of Opposition further called for an apology from the Prime Minister regarding the NEET exams and other academic scandals.
During the conference, Gandhi addressed the treatment of students participating in protests. "Students are not terrorists," Gandhi said [2]. He argued that the government's response to student grievances has been punitive rather than corrective.
Financial data presented during the conference highlighted a disparity between public funding and private expenditure. Gandhi said that while India's education budget stands at ₹1.4 lakh crore [3], the spending by families on NEET exams alone reaches ₹1.32 lakh crore [4].
This financial strain, Gandhi said, impacts approximately 7.5 crore families [5]. He argued that the combination of high private costs and the risk of leaked exams creates an unsustainable environment for the nation's youth.
The Leader of Opposition pressed for immediate accountability and policy changes to prevent further leaks. He said the current state of affairs undermines the meritocracy of the Indian education system, and unfairly penalizes students from lower-income backgrounds.
“"Students are not terrorists"”
The confrontation underscores a deepening political divide over the management of public services in India. By linking the technical failure of exam security to the financial burden on millions of families, the opposition is attempting to frame education not just as a policy failure, but as a systemic socioeconomic crisis that alienates the youth from the state.
