Rahul Gandhi has taken the fight for students now to the PM’s door, it is time for the Parliament to discuss Education Reforms, but this government won’t comply.
It is 11:08 p.m. on 21st July as I write down my thoughts on what may happen in Parliament tomorrow.
It has been an eventful day. The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, once again batted for the students and laid down a five point charter of demands before the government. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, met the Lok Sabha Speaker along with several Opposition MPs and demanded a discussion with the government.
But when the government did not relent on holding a discussion on why the protesters were beaten, on the state of the education system, and on why more than 150 paper leaks have taken place over the last ten years or so, the Congress Party, the principal Opposition party, resorted to a flash protest. Without informing many of its own MPs, and completely duping the mainstream media of the story, Congress leaders marched to the vicinity of the Prime Minister’s residence at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg and sat on a dharna. Later, prominent leaders of other Opposition parties, including Akhilesh Yadav and Supriya Sule, joined the protest.
Now this is becoming serious.
Serious because the youth have done their duty. Every second Instagram video that you watch; I know, the algorithm plays a role – but it tells the story of someone who attended Monday’s protest and was beaten up. Fifteen year old girls. Seventeen year old students. Someone who has just appeared for the NEET examination. Someone preparing for a police recruitment examination. They are all getting beaten up.
I also saw a very interesting tweet from the government side. Someone wrote that if Instagram were banned for two days, this protest would collapse. This shows cowardice and frustration.
I have been watching politics for almost thirty years now. My political consciousness began to develop in the 1990s, and it truly germinated in 2004, when political change took place. I have seen how governments change. I know what it looks like when a government begins to lose its grip. I know the signs when the fall starts drawing near.
Yes, there is still time left in the life of this Lok Sabha. There are still almost two and a half years to go. Half the term is over. But half a term is also a very, very long time in Indian politics.
In this context, it would be premature to conclude that this regime will not return to power in 2029. It continues to enjoy significant popular support. But that support has undoubtedly weakened after Monday’s protest, especially among the youth and Gen Z.
Images are powerful. The images of Rahul Gandhi being dragged, manhandled, and emerging with a bloodied nose will haunt this government and the BJP for years to come. Because he is not just Rahul Gandhi. He is the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
But what have we achieved through this? What has the government achieved?
The government could simply have agreed, from day one, to a discussion on paper leaks and the urgent need to overhaul India’s education system.
Let us assume that today it finally agrees. Let us assume the government takes two steps back after what happened yesterday, after the protest near the Prime Minister’s residence. Let us assume there is a statement from the Education Minister. In fact, the minister has already indicated that he is open to a discussion.
But I do not think that is the solution.
The Opposition should not relent. It should not settle for the minister merely making a statement. Moral and political responsibility demands that Dharmendra Pradhan resign. If anyone is to make a statement, it should be no less than the Prime Minister or the Home Minister.
But more important than a statement is a solution.
Even though today’s piece is more of a journal entry and less analytical than the previous two essays, I want to once again focus on solutions—a comprehensive roadmap to transform India’s education system.
The first reform is one that I have already discussed earlier: we need a complete overhaul of the way examinations are conducted.
In the first part of this series, I had written about the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the National Recruitment Agency (NRA). Both institutions are, for all practical purposes, dysfunctional. There is very little professionalism. These agencies increasingly depend on private contractors to conduct examinations, and that entire ecosystem is fundamentally flawed.
What we need instead is to strengthen these institutions with professionals. This government frequently speaks about lateral entry. Why not introduce lateral entry into these agencies? Why not recruit professionals with expertise in assessment, cybersecurity, data science, logistics and examination management? Why not build genuine institutional capacity instead of outsourcing critical public functions?
Technology must become the backbone of our examination system.
If the IITs and IIMs can conduct secure examinations, if CAT, CLAT and the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) can be conducted without recurring paper leaks, then why not NEET?
The BJP’s defence has often been that paper leaks existed earlier as well, except that earlier papers were sold for thousands whereas today they are sold for lakhs.
That is hardly a defence.
You have been in government for twelve years. You had every opportunity to change the system. Instead, you merely replaced one broken system with another. I do not recall medical entrance examinations witnessing this scale of organised paper leak before 2014.
What has emerged today is an entire chain of intermediaries—a paper leak mafia—which thrives because agencies such as the NTA increasingly depend upon private contractors. The criteria for awarding these contracts remain opaque, the standards appear weak, and allegations of corruption continue to surface.
Why are we not cracking down on this ecosystem?
Why don’t we establish an independent, autonomous national examination authority to conduct all major recruitment and entrance examinations?
The UPSC provides a useful model. It enjoys a significant degree of institutional autonomy and has developed credibility over decades. We need a similar institution, professionally staffed, technologically equipped, supported through lateral entry wherever required, and backed by strong state capacity.
Why are we not using technology to randomise question papers for every candidate?
The Prime Minister speaks repeatedly about Digital India. Yet examination papers are still physically transported across the country, sometimes even with the assistance of the Indian Air Force.
It is difficult to justify such a system in the twenty first century.
Very few countries continue to rely upon such methods. India should seriously study international best practices from countries such as Estonia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and France, where technology, encryption, question randomisation and institutional safeguards together minimise the possibility of large scale paper leaks.
Above all, there has to be accountability.
The second reform that is urgently needed is substantially higher public investment in education.
Unfortunately, this demand has become almost clichéd. Every political party writes it into its manifesto. Members of Parliament routinely speak about it. Yet very little changes on the ground.
Public expenditure on education has fallen from roughly 3.5 per cent of GDP to around 2.5 per cent over the past decade. India must move decisively towards the long-standing national commitment of spending at least 6 per cent of GDP on education.
That will require building state capacity, not shrinking it.
Nearly 94,000 schools have reportedly been closed across the country.
Why?
Who is accountable for that decision?
More than one lakh government schools continue to function with only a single teacher.
Why has this happened?
When the UPA demitted office, India had over twenty lakh government schools. Today that number has reduced substantially. Why are state governments increasingly closing schools? Why has public investment not kept pace with the growing needs of students?
Corporate CSR funds are often used to repaint classrooms, repair school buildings or improve basic infrastructure. Those initiatives are welcome, but they are no substitute for qualified teachers, stronger institutions and better learning outcomes.
The quality of education cannot improve through cosmetic changes alone.
All of this requires serious national debate and substantive policy deliberation.
Today, I have only touched upon two broad areas. The first concerns examination reforms and higher education governance. The second concerns public investment and the crisis in primary education.
These are merely starting points. But if India is serious about rebuilding trust in its education system, this is precisely where the debate must begin.