“152 paper leaks over the last decade… 7.5 crore students affected”: Rahul Gandhi slams government
New Delhi, July 22
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday slammed police action on protestors in the national capital on Monday over their demands about issues in the education sector and said 152 paper leaks occurred in the last decade, affecting 7.5 crore students and their families.
Addressing a press conference here a day after the Congress held protest at Lok Kalyan Marg against police action on protestors during ‘Chalo Sansad’ march, Rahul Gandhi, who is Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said the party fully supports the demands of students.
“The thing that is very clear to everybody is that our education system, which was known to be one of the best education systems in the world, is today a rigged system… What we do know is that 152 paper leaks have taken place over the last decade. If you do the math. So one a month approx. Every month, lakhs of students are told that all the stress that you went through you’re going to have to go through again. After that they tell we really don’t care,” Congress MP said.
“Seven-and-a-half crore students and their families are affected by this. These are middle class and poor families. They put their hard earned money into this and then they literally spat on. And the best part of this is zero convictions. In the last 10 years, 152 leaks have taken place and zero convictions. So somebody is or a group of people are destroying our education system, India’s most valuable asset, destroying the lives of our students. What does the government do? Zero convictions,” he added.
He said the protestors were demanding a fair education system.
“The question is why is this happening to our students. What exactly have our students done? They have security forces aiming weapons at them. What have they done wrong? They are protesting peacefully, they are asking for demands, they are asking for what this country owes them. They are simply asking that listen as students of the country we deserve an education system that us fair. Children have committed suicide. Our students go through unlimited stress and at the last minute they are told that the paper has leaked,” he said.
He alleged that India’s education system is not only “rigged” but also unaffordable, claiming that families whose members appear for NEET spend nearly as much as the government’s annual education budget.
“It’s not just that the system is rigged, it’s that the system is unaffordable. This is a statistic that every youngster knows, but somehow the Government of India doesn’t. One exam costs the families who take this exam the same amount of money as our entire education budget. The government of India, after collecting all the taxes, spends money on the future of our children. That money goes into something called the education budget. It is Rs 1.4 lakh crores. At the same time every year, Rs 1.32 lakh crore similar amount is spent by the families who are taking the NEET exam. This is pure theft from these families, nothing else. And then after you steal from them, you tell them that there’s a paper leak. The thing is rigged. So this is the second reason and legitimate reason why our youngsters are outside,” he said. (ANI)