- Students highlight financial strain and morale impact due to exam paper leak and postponement
- Protesters demand education system reform beyond the NEET paper leak issue
- Students say poor families can't afford to pay again and again due to paper leaks
Thousands continued to pour into central Delhi's Jantar Mantar as the protest seeking the resignation of Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET paper leak showed no sign of winding down.
Most of the protesters are young people. They raised many questions, from the NEET case to wider issues like unemployment. NDTV spoke to some of them at the protest site to hear what they have to say.
A group of students from Allahabad University told NDTV the paper leak not only hurt the morale of students but also cost them a lot of money, especially those from economically weaker sections.
Ashwini Kumar, one of the students from Prayagraj, formerly Allahabad, said his mother's pension runs his family after the death of his father. He said competitive exams need money, from coaching to filling up forms to travelling to exam centres.
"The paper was leaked. It was then postponed. What can we do? Even if the exam was held, the results were nowhere to be seen," Ashwini Kumar said.
Vivek Kumar, who is preparing for the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam to join the civil service, said this fight isn't about only one exam. "The entire education system needs to be reformed."
Naseem Khan, another student in the group that NDTV spoke to, pointed out that the government's announcement to fast-track the NEET case came a bit late. "It's only three months later that they remembered about setting up fast-track courts," he said. "The victory of this movement is that the government has remembered students for the first time."
The group of students from Allahabad University has been at the protest site since July 20. One of them, Jai Singh, said they faced no problem in getting food during their protest. "It is brought by delivery apps, Jai Singh said, pointing at a red carpet on the road, where they sleep.
Many students at Jantar Mantar are from outside Delhi.
Delhi resident Sushil Ahuja, who is also known as "Guitar Uncle", encouraged the students by singing Dushyant Kumar's poetry on his guitar. He runs a free library for students. "I don't have any children, so these students are my children."
A group from Uttar Pradesh's Unnao is also in attendance at Jantar Mantar. Sangam Singh, who studies in Delhi University and volunteers for the Cockroach Janta Party, says the students from Unnao are his friends. Delhi University at the moment is closed and will reopen on July 26. Sangam Singh said he has been at the protest site for the last 20 days.
Pointing to a student sitting next to him, Sangam said that while the fee at Allahabad University is Rs 3,000, the fee at Delhi University's Khalsa College is Rs 26,000; it is about Rs 85,000 with hostel charges.
"Can children of farmers like us afford such high fees? This is a fight for educational reform, and the government must take it seriously." he said.
The protest at Jantar Mantar began on June 6, led by the satirical political group CJP. Apart from the NEET paper leak, they raised alleged irregularities in the CBSE's on-screen marking process, besides seeking wider reforms in the conduct of public examinations.
The protest gained wider attention after Ladakh activist Sonam Wangchuk joined with an indefinite hunger strike on June 28.
