Pioneer News Service
Ranchi
Jharkhand Congress Legislature Party leader Pradeep Yadav on Sunday accused the Centre of failing to safeguard the interests of students, alleging that repeated examination paper leaks have severely undermined the country’s education system and shattered the confidence of millions of aspirants.
Addressing a press conference at the Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters in Ranchi, Yadav said growing anger among students across the country reflects widespread frustration over irregularities in competitive examinations. He alleged that several students had died by suicide due to the stress and uncertainty caused by paper leaks, accusing the Union government of remaining insensitive to their plight.
Referring to government data, Yadav claimed that 152 examination papers had been leaked across India since 2014, affecting nearly 75 million candidates. He alleged that despite the scale of the problem, no major accused had been brought to justice and no meaningful accountability had been fixed. He further criticised the government for allegedly failing to respond adequately to the concerns of affected students and their families.
The Congress leader also accused the Centre of prioritising political interests over educational reforms. He alleged that appointments to key institutions, including the National Testing Agency (NTA), were influenced by ideological considerations rather than merit. According to Yadav, this had weakened public confidence in the integrity of national examinations.
Highlighting the party’s outreach efforts, Yadav said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had been actively engaging with students and raising concerns over examination irregularities and alleged corruption in the education sector. He said the party was committed to ensuring transparency, fairness and accountability in the examination process.
Earlier, campaign coordinator Kumar Raja said the Congress’ nationwide “Students’ Voice” campaign is being held across 28 cities over a period of 40 days. The initiative includes student interactions, marathon runs, cultural programmes, press conferences and torchlight marches to draw attention to examination-related issues.
Senior state Congress leaders, including Abhilash Sahu, Lal Kishore Nath Shahdeo and Rajan Verma, were also present at the press conference.
