The parliament saw the onset of the Monsoon Session amid loud debates, particularly on controversial allegations concerning the leakage of the NEET-UG paper. Discussions in the session find Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan engaged in a verbal war with opposition leaders over issues relating to credibility and integrity within India’s examination system.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said categorically in his speech that there is no evidence in support of paper leaks during the last seven years, and emphatically repeated that more than 240 examinations have been conducted by NTA so far with absolutely no hassle. He reiterated that the matter is sub-judice as far as the Supreme Court is concerned on NEET, and it remains in firm custody with a robust and fair system of examination.
Contrary to the claims made by Pradhan, Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Yadav launched a frontal attack on the government, alleging that it had completely compromised the sanctity of the examination system. At some centres, unusually high success rates were reported, he pointed out, indicating that something was very wrong with the system in terms of corruption and inefficiency. “As long as this minister is in charge, students will not get justice,” Yadav said and demanded greater transparency and accountability from the government on its functioning.
Joining the chorus of criticism, Congress MP and LoP Rahul Gandhi pointed to deep disillusionment among students at large. He said millions of students believe that the examination system is a farce, with the rich manipulating the results. He has also demanded a dedicated session for the discussion of such problems and questioned the will and action taken by the government in weeding out flaws in NEET and other major exams.
Responding to the firing allegations by opposition, Pradhan termed these baseless and politically motivated. He referred to the mandate from the Supreme Court, and his Ministry has initiated a number of solid measures to take examination results into public domain for prevention of malpractices and to ensure fairness. He said new legislation had been introduced against examination malpractices, which the previous UPA regime could not do.
The noisy debate brought into focus the widening gap between the ruling party and the opposition on the issue of the state of India’s education system. Whether the government would be able to restore people’s confidence in the examination process and allay the fears expressed by opposition leaders remains to be seen as the session progressed.
Photo Credit:Sansad TV
