Several student organisations on Monday staged protests outside the Ministry of Education in New Delhi against alleged irregularities in recent exams, ramping up demands for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
The protests were conducted by the All India Students' Association (AISA) and the Krantikari Yuva Sangathan (KYS), and sought to demand accountability for the repeated issues with recent exams that have put thousands of students' futures in danger.
However, this led to several AISA activists allegedly being detained by the police during the protest march.
"Around 8-10 students were detained to maintain law and order," a senior police officer told PTI.
Calling the National Testing Agency (NTA) a symbol of negligence and corruption in the education system, AISA also reiterated its demands to have the exam agency scrapped, while the KYS has called for a Supreme Court probe into the agency's functioning.
This comes amid Abhijeet Dipke, the founder of the satirical Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), announcing that he would be returning to India on June 6.
"The time has come for all of us to come together, following the path of the Constitution of India, and peacefully raise our voices to demand Dharmendra Pradhan's resignation. If we raise our voices together, they will definitely have to listen to us," he said about the idea of organising a peaceful protest at the Jantar Mantar on June 6.
“Please join me at the airport (on June 6), and together we will go to the Parliament Street Police Station to ask for permission to hold a peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar,” he added.
Most recently seen in the technical glitches with the CBSE's re-evaluation portal that was supposed to go live on June 1, the string of issues with India's recent examinations—and the authorities that conduct them—include the NEET paper leak, the delay in the SSC GD exam due to overcrowding at some centres, delays in the CUET-UG exams due to technical glitches, and the CBSE's On-Screen Marking (OSM) system.
The CBSE's OSM system comes with its own set of irregularities exposed by a group of teenage whistleblowers, who flagged alleged issues with the tender process, the dangerous flaws in the CBSE website, and backlash against those trying to voice out concerns against CBSE-linked issues.
In that regard, the protesting student groups have also urged that the Centre issue a formal apology and improve the exam systems that affect so many student lives.
