Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi says, India’s education system is an extortion machine

KOTA (RAJASTHAN): Thousands of students joined the first congregation of the ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ (Echo of the Students) mega rally, addressed by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi in Kota, Rajasthan on June 17, 2026, focusing on issues such as NEET-UG examination paper leaks, recruitment irregularities, and challenges faced by students and job aspirants. In an hour-long interactive session with the aspirants of various competitive exams and their family members, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi said that India’s education system was an extortion machine. He said that it is shameful and must be changed, while appealing to the students to join the movement to change it.

Shri Rahul Gandhi made it categorically clear that today’s congregation was absolutely apolitical and was aimed at addressing the concerns and apprehensions of the aspirants of various competitive exams like the NEET, the JEE, the UPSC etc.

Besides, he noted that the education system was not even employment oriented. Citing the data, he said that only just 1.2 percent can get a salaried job in India right now. And this, he pointed out, is after the students and their families spend a fortune on their studies.

Identifying various other shortcomings of the education system, he said that it was not designed to make the students realise their dreams. He said that it does not address or satisfy their options and ambitions if they want to opt for something different from the traditional jobs like those of engineering, medicine, the IAS/IPS, legal profession or the defence services.

Elaborating further as to how exploitative and extortionist the system was, Shri Gandhi pointed out that 22 lakh students take the NEET exam and their families spend Rs. 1.32 lakh crores for this. He revealed that this amount equals the entire budget of the education ministry of the government of India.

Elaborating further, he said that the cumulative fees paid by the students for the NEET, the SSC, the RRB, UPSC and JEE exam comes to about Rs. 3.5 lakh crores, which is the total budget of five ministries including Education, Health, Labour, Science and Technology and Child and Women Welfare.

He further said that the entire education system from the schools to the college is exploitative, pointing out how the public sector education system has been completely destroyed and replaced with the private sector education. He said that the fee is exorbitant in the private schools and despite such huge fee, students are made to take tuitions, then to private colleges and then to coaching centres. He said that even all this does not guarantee an assured salaried job.

Shri Rahul Gandhi during his speech referred to the tragic suicide of Akanksha, who was a NEET aspirant but had committed suicide after the paper leak. He said that there must not be any more students like her who are pushed by the system to commit suicide.

He said that it was not Akanksha’s failure, but the system that failed her. “Indian education system is a rejection system not a selection system”, he remarked while pointing out the heavy and tough odds against which the students have to compete for limited seats and limited positions.

Asserting that the youth are the future of the country, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha said, “India succeeds if you succeed. India has a duty to protect every young Indian and every single student.” Referring to the harsh reality of the employment situation prevailing in the country, he said that out of 100 engineers currently in India, 80 are unemployed.

Making a passionate and fervent appeal to change the system, he said, “We need to change this system. And repair it and bring in a system that allows you to dream big and realise that dream.” “Most important is that your dream should be realised at the lowest cost without you being extorted of lakhs of crores of rupees”, he said, while appealing to the students and the youth to come forward with their suggestions and opinions.

Thousands of enthusiastic students joined the congregation and raised slogans hailing Shri Rahul Gandhi. He appealed to them not to raise any slogans as he had come for interaction only and to listen to them and explain how he felt about changing the education system prevailing in the country.

Earlier in a Post on X, Leader of Opposition Shri Rahul Gandhi alleged that paper leaks, exam mismanagement, cancelled recruitments, rising fees, privatisation and scams were shattering the dreams of millions of young Indians.

“My young and Gen Z comrades, one thing is clear in my mind, and you too should etch in your heart: securing the future of every youth in India is the government’s responsibility. But responsibility and honesty—both are beyond the Modi government’s way of thinking,” Shri Rahul Gandhi said.

Thousands of students converge at ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ convention in Dehradun

DEHRADUN: Thousands of students converged to attend the second convention of the ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ (Echo of the Students) addressed by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi in Dehradun in Uttrakhand on July 17, 2026. He called for a national consensus against paper leaks, questioned the government’s failure to punish those responsible despite 152 reported leak cases over the last decade and proposed technological safeguards to protect examinations.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi identified several problems being faced by the students and the youth and also suggested technology driven measures to prevent the recurring paper leaks in the country.

Shri Rahul Gandhi also called on stage Shri Rajesh Kumar, the father of Riya Kumari who committed suicide after the cancellation of the NEET exam due to the paper leak. Sharing his grief, he expressed shock that the government had completely remained indifferent towards the victim’s family and had not even expressed condolence or apology.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rajesh Kumar urged Shri Rahul Gandhi to highlight the plight of the victims of the paper leaks in the Parliament. He regretted that there was not a single word of sympathy, apology or condolence from the government over the suicide of his daughter.

Shri Rahul Gandhi said that on an average, every student spends Rs. nine lakhs during a period of five years for coaching to get a government job. This, he said, was because all other options had been closed. He identified five sectors where the youth could get jobs earlier and said that only the government sector had been left now. He said that since manufacturing was closed and entire goods were imported from China, there were no jobs in this sector. He said that the second option of entrepreneurship was also closed for the youth as the banks were assisting only a select few industrial groups whose names were known to everyone.

He said that the corporate jobs were finished due to the impact of Artificial Intelligence. He said that another sector was the PSUs which also provided the jobs, but these had been privatised by the government. He said that only the government sector was left where the chances of anyone getting a job were quite low. Providing statistics, he said that out of 150 applicants only one can get the job.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Shri Rahul Gandhi maintained that there were only two ways to succeed in the competitive exams. One was that of honesty and hard work that was adopted by 99 percent youth. The other one was through the paper leaks where people buy papers before the exams. He also mentioned the rate card for various leaked question papers, saying that while the NEET paper cost Rs. 40 lakh, the IIT-JEE paper was available for Rs. 15 lakh. He said that there were separate rate cards for not needed state recruitment exams.

He identified four types of injustices youth of the country were subjected to. These include the injustice of the exorbitant cost of private coaching which on an average costs Rs. nine lakhs for each candidate. The second injustice, he added, was that out of five options for jobs, four were closed. Third injustice he said was the very low strike rate of success in getting a government job, pointing out that against 150 applicants, only one can get the job. Fourth injustice, he said, was the worst and that was the paper leak where deserving students are denied success and opportunity despite putting in a lot of hard work.

The Leader of Opposition said that about 7.5 crore students were affected by the paper leaks during the last ten years. He said, this was just the tip of the iceberg as nobody knows how many papers were actually getting leaked. This, he noted, was because there was no deterrence as not a single person had been punished for paper leaks so far. He said that the entire system and its structure was involved, from the coaching centres right up to the people sitting in the ministry.

Suggesting solutions against the paper leak, Shri Rahul Gandhi said that Indian examination system was that of the 19th century while we need a system for the 21st century. He said, today’s system is examiner/government centric, while we need a student-centric examination system which should be modern and have the option of flexible dates. He suggested that randomisation of question papers can be one of the solutions. He said that there can be different sets of papers for students in a single examination hall. He also asserted that education institutions must be independent of the government influence and the Vice Chancellors must not belong to any political party or organisation. He said that the head of the National Testing Agency must not belong to any particular organisation. Besides, he emphasised that holding exams is the job of the government and not the private agencies, which are driven by profit motives.