On Friday, June 19, students and activists affiliated with the Students' Federation of India (SFI) held a protest in New Delhi, calling for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The demonstrators marched toward the Ministry of Education building, citing mismanagement and scams linked to the NEET and CBSE examinations.
According to the SFI, these issues have adversely impacted 22 lakh students. The protest followed the cancellation of the NEET-UG exam this year, after which more than 10 students reportedly died by suicide in the subsequent weeks.
During the protest, the SFI referred to the National Testing Agency (NTA) as the 'national torture agency', accusing it of causing widespread distress among students. Security personnel were deployed in large numbers, and barricades were set up to prevent the crowd from reaching the ministry building. Clashes occurred between protesters and police, and several activists were detained at the site.
The SFI highlighted that over the past decade, 89 examination papers have been leaked, forcing the rescheduling of 48 exams. The group also noted that the NTA has never released a definitive internal report explaining how its structural protocols were breached, instead blaming external rackets.
In a related development, the evaluation contract for CBSE exams was awarded to Coempt, a Hyderabad-based company. Coempt had previously handled exam evaluations twice in Telangana and was involved in a similar scam there, yet it was reassigned the contract. The CBSE exam scam has adversely affected over 1.8 million students, plunging many into depression.
The SFI asserted that as education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan bears direct responsibility for the poor state of the country's education sector and the severe distress faced by students. They argued that he has no right to remain in his post.
This protest follows previous SFI demonstrations after the cancellation of the 2026 NEET-UG paper, during which at least 25 student activists were arrested while peacefully protesting outside the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
