File photo: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi (Picture credit: ANI)
NEW DELHI: Congress leader and leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said India’s education system must be “rebuilt from scratch” to create a safe, student-centric environment, asserting that repeated examination paper leaks have caused irreparable pain to several families.Sharing a video from his ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ rally in Dehradun on Friday, Congress MP recalled his interaction with Rajesh Kumar, the father of Riya Kumari, who allegedly died by suicide after the cancellation of the NEET-UG examination in May amid allegations of a paper leak.”Riya’s father, Rajesh ji, was so shattered by the loss of his daughter that it brought tears to the eyes of everyone who saw him. This is not the pain of just one family; the paper leak has snatched children away from many such families,” Rahul wrote in a post on X.”Behind every name, there is a mother and a father, for whom there is no longer a tomorrow. This system must be rebuilt from scratch — creating an environment where children find safety instead of stress, and where parents reap the rewards of their sacrifices, not tears,” he added.
Rahul Gandhi calls for overhaul of examination system
Addressing the ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ rally in Dehradun on Friday, former Congress president had alleged that examination paper leaks had become a systemic problem and called for a political consensus to address the issue. He claimed that around 7.5 crore students had suffered due to paper leaks over the past decade and alleged that the entire education ecosystem—from coaching centres and examination centres to paper setters, translators, transporters, vendors, the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the education ministry—was involved in the problem. “While cases of paper leaks are rising by the day due to this corrupt system, no action against the guilty, including conviction, has been taken till now,” Rahul had said.He also argued that the existing examination model was outdated and required a complete overhaul.”Today’s system is examiner-centric, government-centric and testing-centric, whereas we want a student-centric system. The testing system should be for the students and it must be flexible.””There should be a secure question bank and randomised question papers. We can randomise a question paper with the help of technology, similar to GMAT and other exams,” he had said.
‘No political party should control educational institutions’
Rahul also maintained that educational institutions should remain free from political influence, saying no political party or organisation should have control over them.He had advocated a broader political consensus on preventing examination paper leaks, describing it as a collective responsibility rather than a partisan issue.Congress MP’s remarks on Saturday came a day after he met Riya’s father during the Dehradun event, where the grieving parent urged him to raise the issue in Parliament so that no other family would have to endure a similar tragedy.The Congress leader launched the nationwide ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ campaign from Kota, Rajasthan, on June 17 to highlight concerns over examination irregularities and challenges faced by students.During the Dehradun programme, he also alleged that advanced technology was being used to facilitate paper leaks and claimed that 152 such incidents had occurred over the past decade without any convictions. Go to Source
