Hoshiarpur:- All India Congress Committee Secretary and MLA Pargat Singh today launched a scathing attack on the central government in Hoshiarpur over the complete collapse of the national examination system due to the NEET scam and paper leaks. He said that the National Testing Agency (NTA) has completely failed in its primary responsibility, due to which many national examinations like NEET-UG and UGC-NET were leaked and cancelled.
As the Education Minister, MLA Pargat Singh made three main demands. He demanded that Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resign immediately. His possible links with the paper leak mafia should be investigated. Comprehensive reforms should be made in the education system. There should be no more paper leaks. A fixed annual calendar should be implemented for exams and recruitments like NEET-UG and UGC-NET, in which the exam dates, result dates and last date of appointment should be announced in advance.
Pargat Singh said that over 2.2 million families are collectively spending about ?1.32 lakh crore annually on the NEET exam alone. While our country’s annual education budget is ?1.40 lakh crore, students and their parents are spending as much money on NEET preparation as the budget spent on education every year.
He revealed that exams like NEET promise guaranteed employment, but the reality is that out of every 1,000 students, only 12 are able to get permanent, salaried jobs. Even 80% of IIT graduates struggle to find employment.
Pargat Singh said that, according to media reports, there have been 89 suspected cases of paper leaks in India in the last 10 years, affecting at least 62 million students. At least 48 exams had to be rescheduled, and 22 were cancelled before they were conducted. Apart from NEET-UG 2024, at least 64 major exams across the country have been accused of paper leaks in 19 states since 2019. Of these, 45 were government recruitment exams, and at least 27 have been cancelled or postponed.
He said that senior party leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and every member of the Congress party will not rest until the voice of the youth is heard and their future is secured. Congress stands shoulder to shoulder with students and parents. Every possible fight will be fought to ensure justice for them.
Former Minister Sundar Sham Arora, District Congress President Daljit Singh Giljian, former MLA Pawan Kumar Adia, former MLA Indu Bala, former Youth President Amarpreet Singh Lali, Yamini Gomar, Advocate Rohit Joshi, Amarpal Kaka, Navi Rehal, Sarwan Singh and Narveer Nandi were also present on this occasion.