The Himachal Pradesh unit of the students’ Federation of India (SFI) will launch a statewide signature campaign from June 1, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over alleged failures in the conduct of national competitive examinations.
In a press statement issued here, Anil Thakur, state president, SFI, stated that a three-day nationwide mass signature campaign would be conducted from June 1 to 3, against “the repeated failures, administrative incompetence and corruption within the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other such bodies responsible for conducting examinations.”
“The NTA is responsible for conducting some of the country’s most important competitive examinations, including CUET, UGC-NET, JEE and NEET, in which lakhs of students from across the country appear every year after extensive preparation. However, the NTA has repeatedly failed in conducting these examinations fairly and securely. Recently, examinations were cancelled after substantial evidence of a paper leak emerged. Nearly 15 days before the examination, a ‘guess paper’ had been circulating on WhatsApp and Telegram groups, and more than 100 questions reportedly matched those in the actual question paper,” he said.
“The primary responsibility for these failures rests with the country’s Education Minister. The government has failed in its accountability towards students, leading to a serious erosion of trust in the education system. Therefore, the SFI demands the Education Minister to immediately resign from his position.
