From repeated controversies surrounding NEET to mounting concerns over CBSE’s digital evaluation process, what began as isolated grievances has hardened into a broader crisis of trust. | Photo Credit: SHASHI SHEKHAR KASHYAP

The July 20 police crackdown on unarmed protestors in central Delhi spotlights the failure of the government to quickly address issues that have eroded students’ faith in the education system. From repeated controversies surrounding NEET to mounting concerns over CBSE’s digital evaluation process, what began as isolated grievances has hardened into a broader crisis of trust. The Centre is on the defensive, as perhaps never before.

In this context, firing teargas shells and baton-charging unarmed protestors was a misstep of monumental proportions. Scores of students are in Delhi’s hospitals, some with pellet injuries. One student was on ventilator support. There is palpable tension at the protest site in Jantar Mantar where thousands of students and their concerned parents are continuing to assemble and demand the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. This anger did not emerge overnight. It has accumulated over examination cycles, particularly since the 2024 NEET controversy, when 67 candidates secured a perfect score of 720/720 with six toppers originating from a single examination centre in Jhajjar, Haryana. The National Testing Agency (NTA,) that conducts NEET, initially attributed abnormal scores to “grace marks” awarded for lost time. Later, investigations by the Bihar police and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) uncovered an organised, multi-State racket. The Supreme Court concluded that the paper leak was an “undisputed fact”, but did not cancel the exam. The Ministry of Education said it had set up a committee to overhaul NTA operations.

Such assurances have done little to restore confidence. Fresh controversies surrounding this year’s examination process have reinforced perceptions that infirmities within the system remain intact. The NTA has had to cancel the NEET exam undertaken by over 22 lakh students when leaked ‘guess papers’ matched up to 140 exam questions in chemistry and biology. A re-examination was scheduled. In the intervening period of 37 days between the two tests, an estimated 12 students committed suicide. Families and police accounts pointed to uncertainty and the emotional toll surrounding the cancelled exam and the upcoming re-test as the reason for these suicides. Equally troubling was the controversy over CBSE’s badly executed shift to on-screen evaluation.

The official response has been marked with an almost Kafkaesque apathy. The government must now recognise that this is no longer simply an examination controversy; it is a crisis of institutional legitimacy that needs to be addressed by serious reforms. Accountability cannot stop with lower-level officials or committees of inquiry. The need for empathy cannot be overstated. Students who feel their futures have been compromised should be heard, not dispersed by force. Restoring confidence will require a willingness to initiate systemic reforms and fix accountability — at all levels, not excluding the Minister.

Published on July 22, 2026