NEET showdown in Parliament: Akhilesh, Rahul question exam system; Education Minister responds

New Delhi, July 22 (IANS) The Budget Session saw fiery exchanges on the very first day on Monday, as Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav slammed the Government over paper leaks in NEET examinations and also questioned the entire Indian examination system. This drew a strong response as well as a rebuttal from Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Akhilesh Yadav claimed that lakhs of students are anxious and worried over their future because of paper leaks in competitive exams like NEET but the government was not paying heed to their concerns.

SP supremo, in a searing jibe, said, “There can’t be justice for the students till this government is in power.”

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan replied by informing the House that the results are in the public domain for everyone to see.

"I don't want to do politics, but I have a list of how many paper leaks happened when Akhilesh Yadav was in charge (as UP CM)," he said.

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha, described the whole examination system as ‘fraud and rubbish’, eliciting strong protest from the Minister.

“Millions of students are concerned and convinced that the Indian Examination system is a fraud. They believe that if you have money, you can buy the Indian education system,” the LoP said.

Taking strong exception to labelling the system as ‘fraud’, Dharmendra Pradhan said, “I outrightly denounce the LoP for demeaning the entire examination system.”

Rahul also asked Modi government’s plan to address the systemic issue and also what was it doing to fix the issue.

Replying to Rahul’s charge that “the Minister blamed everyone except himself,” Dharmendra Pradhan said that he doesn’t want a certificate from anyone.

“I have been sent to this temple of democracy with the mandate of people and don’t need a certificate from anyone,” he said and also recalled the remote-controlled government of the UPA era, which was dominated by a series of scams and corruption.