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New Delhi: Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Saturday shared an emotional account of his meeting with the father of NEET aspirant Riya Kumari, who allegedly died by suicide after the cancellation of the NEET-UG examination in May amid allegations of a paper leak.Sharing a video from his 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' rally in Dehradun on Friday, Gandhi recalled his interaction with Rajesh Kumar, saying the grieving father's pain reflected the suffering of countless families affected by repeated examination paper leaks."Riya's father, Rajesh ji, was so shattered by the loss of his daughter that it brought tears to the eyes of everyone who saw him. This is not the pain of just one family; the paper leak has snatched
children away from many such families," Gandhi wrote in a post on X.He further said the crisis had gone beyond examination irregularities and had become a human tragedy."Behind every name, there is a mother and a father, for whom there is no longer a tomorrow. This system must be rebuilt from scratch — creating an environment where children find safety instead of stress, and where parents reap the rewards of their sacrifices, not tears," he added.During the Dehradun rally, Rajesh Kumar urged Gandhi to raise his daughter's case in Parliament so that no other family would have to endure a similar loss.Using the incident to underline what he described as the failure of India's examination system, Gandhi reiterated his demand for sweeping reforms to curb paper leaks and make the education system more student-centric.Addressing the gathering on Friday, the Congress MP alleged that examination paper leaks had become a systemic problem, claiming that nearly 7.5 crore students had been affected over the past decade.He alleged that the entire examination ecosystem — from coaching centres and examination centres to paper setters, translators, transporters, vendors, the National Testing Agency (NTA) and even the Education Ministry, had been compromised."While cases of paper leaks are rising by the day due to this corrupt system, no action against the guilty, including conviction, has been taken till now," Gandhi said.Calling the current examination model outdated, he advocated a complete overhaul of the system."Today's system is examiner-centric, government-centric and testing-centric, whereas we want a student-centric system. The testing system should be for the students and it must be flexible," he said.Gandhi also proposed creating a secure digital question bank with technology-driven randomisation of question papers, similar to international examinations such as the GMAT, to reduce the chances of leaks.He further argued that educational institutions should remain free from political influence, saying no political party or organisation should control them, and called for a broad political consensus to tackle examination paper leaks.The Congress leader launched the nationwide 'Chhatron Ki Goonj' campaign from Rajasthan's Kota on June 17 to highlight examination irregularities and issues faced by students across the country. During the Dehradun event, he also claimed that advanced technology was increasingly being used to facilitate paper leaks and alleged that 152 such incidents had been reported over the past decade without a single conviction.
