Student protests erupted across India after corruption was revealed around the National Testing Agency (NTA) and the leaking of university entrance exam papers.
Allegations are that the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) is marred by systematic cheating and corruption.
Al Jazeera reported that the June 4 release of NEET results “revealed irregularities in marks and a dramatically high number of toppers”.
Evidence of organised leaking of exam papers included a racket involving a leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a school teacher, who were allegedly charging Rs10 lakhs (A$18,300) for exam papers. Police arrested many involved.
The NEET, a singular national test for students who want to enter medical and dental courses, was reintroduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in 2016 after being declared unconstitutional and made illegal by the Supreme Court in 2013.
About 2.4 million students took the NEET this year, competing for about 100,000 places in medical courses.
It is alleged that the NTA was aware of the corruption surrounding the 2024 NEET and released the results early to coincide with the elections in an attempt to avoid media attention.
The All India Students Association (AISA) said the NEET has been “mired in controversy since the beginning”. Registration to take the exam was open from February 9 to March 16, but was suddenly re-opened for two days on April 16 by “stakeholders’ request”.
Sixty-seven students achieved the perfect mark of 720 — including six students from the same testing centre in Jhajjar, in Haryana state.
In 2022, the top student received a mark of 715. But this year, 715 ranked only 225th. “A score of 700 meant the rank of 49 in 2022, 294 in 2023 and 1,770 this year,” AISA said.
“Surely the examination is not getting easier with time, or the quality of students appearing for the test recording a quantum jump.
“The entire system has been thoroughly compromised from within and students and their families are paying the price for this systemic corruption.”
N Sai Balaji, former AISA national president, told Al Jazeera the centralisation of exams was one reason for the increasing corruption.
He said: “There is no mechanism for accountability, no mechanism to know whether the exam process is transparent, there is no mechanism to hold someone responsible for a criminal act like a paper leak or corruption.”
Kiran Bhatty, Senior Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Policy Research specialising in education policy, told Al Jazeera that the centralisation of exams had make it more difficult for people marginalised communities and rural areas to participate.
The popularity of expensive coaching centres for students has increased the divide between rich and poor students.
Despite this, the exam leaks are typically going towards wealthier students. “It depends whether you have the money to buy the paper,” said Balaji.
“In almost every case of corruption that has emerged in the past few years it is someone connected to the ruling party that is getting caught.
“In a system that is rigged to this level, where students are having to face postponement and cancellation of exams on a regular basis, you can imagine the trauma the students are facing.”
AISA said the “over-centralised ‘one nation, one examination’ model” innately favours the rich and privileged. It said the rise of the private coaching industry and the “paper leak mafia” had made the entire education system highly unfair.
It said it also represents the growing commercialisation of education in India outlined in the New Education Policy 2020.
India’s 2024 budget, released on July 23, continues the Modi government’s push to privatise education. It reduces spending on education by Rs9,090 crore (A$1,655,677) to 2.5% of the total budget spending, well below the National Education Commission recommendation of 6%.
Higher education also received a funding cut of Rs9625 crore (A$1,753,518).
Thousands of student protests across the country, including a week-long sit-in at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, led to the sacking of NTA chief Subodh Kumar Singh.
Students are also demanding the removal of BJP education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Students also want the NTA to be disbanded, nationalised testing to be scapped and a return to the pre-2018 testing system. They are demanding to be allowed to re-take the NEET.
Student organisations affiliated to parties within the INDIA alliance — a broad electoral front of left and democratic parties — held a united press conference on July 2.
AISA General Secretary Prasenjeet Kumar said: “The NTA which acts like the mafia itself must be scrapped without delay. We the students reject the false promises of the government and demand immediate resignation of the failed education minister Dharmendra Pradhan.”
Students have organised a march on parliament on August 9.