Rahul targets Education Minister Pradhan over paper leaks, says serious problem in country's exam system

The Leader of Opposition asked, 'As this is a systemic issue, what exactly are you doing to fix this issue at the systemic level?'

New Delhi: The Opposition crossed swords in the floor of the Lok Sabha over the NEET issue, with Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi saying that the education minister Dharmendra Pradhan should take responsibility for his failure to stop paper leaks.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, too, said that till Pradhan remains, the matter will not be fixed and students will continue to suffer. Pradhan said that there have been no paper leaks in the last seven years.

Leading the Opposition’s charge, Gandhi said that the paper leaks and irregularities associated with the NEET exams points at a “very serious” problem with our examination system, and that it should be addressed with sincerity.

“There are millions of students who are extremely concerned, and they are convinced that the Indian examination system is broken. They believe that if you are rich and have money you can buy the examination system,” Gandhi said, asking the education minister to appraise the House of the steps that he was taking to resolve the issue.

In response, Pradhan said that since the establishment of the National Testing Agency (NTA), 240 exams have taken place where 5 crore students applied and 4.5 crore students took the tests. He added that he was in this position at the mercy of the prime minister, his leader, and the examination process was a “collective responsibility” of the government.

Pradhan sought to attack Gandhi for calling the education system compromised. “Why had the UPA government not framed the law to contain unlawful activities in the competitive examination? The NDA government has passed a law for it”, he said.

“There is no evidence of paper leak has been found in the last seven years,” Pradhan asserted. This case is already before the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of India (CJI) is personally presiding over the Bench,” he added.

Gandhi said that the matter was not just related to the NEET exams, but other major examinations as well. “The minister has blamed everybody except himself,” he said.

As the situation was heated, Birla intervened and urged both sides to not indulge in “blame games”. “We should look at developing a better system… it is not right to raise questions about all examinations,” Birla said.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said that the NTA must publish a list of centres where a high number of students have performed well. “How is it possible that students from particular centres have done far better than others,” he asked. The Opposition later staged a walk-out.