From NEET To CBSE: Congress Blasts 12-Year Modi Govt's Education Record As 'Disastrous', Lists Out Reasons
New Delhi: Indian National Congress (INC) on June 1 released a statement, listing out the ruling Narendra Modi-led Union Government’s “disastrous record on education,” as the country is reeling under several exam related controversies.
In its statement, the Congress pointed out that 12 years of blatant misrule and relentless propaganda have eaten away at the foundations of India’s education system. “CBSE compromised, UGC destroyed, scientific temper diminished, NCERT Textbook coloured, VCs appointed by RSS, any student protests bulldozed, Rights of SC-ST-OBC-EWS-minority youth snatched, Unemployment at its peak and persistent cuts in education budget—is the story of India’s youth under BJP.”
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The statement points out that the country is facing a decade-long trail of paper leaks, cancellations, and administrative collapse now culminating in chaos over CBSE’s digital evaluation rollout. Data from 2016 to 2026 shows systemic failure across national-level tests. In NEET-UG 2016, a question paper leak hit about 8 lakh candidates. By NEET 2021, leaks, cheating, impersonation and malpractice affected 16.14 lakh registered candidates, with around 15.3 lakh appearing.
NEET-UG 2024 saw fresh paper leak allegations, malpractice and a grace-mark dispute with about 23 lakh candidates appearing. UGC-NET 2024 was cancelled after integrity was compromised, while CSIR-NET 2024 and NEET-PG 2024 were postponed amid system disruptions. CUET 2024 faced result delays and administrative disruption. JEE Main 2025 was marred by answer-key errors and withdrawn questions.
The crisis continued into 2026. NEET-UG 2026 saw an alleged leak and cancellation affecting about 22–23 lakh students. CUET-UG 2026 was hit by a technical glitch and nationwide delay impacting thousands. BPSC, DSSSB and UPSC-linked exams in 2026 also faced cancellations, postponements and administrative problems.
Over the years, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has consistently spoken for students, exposing what the Opposition calls the CBSE Saga. Congress in its statement alleged Union Ministers and the BJP ecosystem are hiding corrupt practices by targeting 17-year-old students, labelling them “Deep State Agents”, “Pakistanis” and “working for Soros”. The party accused the CBSE of ignoring a January 2026 dry run that flagged 36 major concerns in its digital evaluation system, including risks of blind checking, weak moderation, lack of oversight and major technical failures.
Teachers reportedly warned the system needed one to two more years, yet CBSE implemented it within weeks for 18.5 lakh Class 12 students.The fallout was severe. Thousands received blurred, incomplete and unreadable scans. Over 68,000 answer books were rescanned and more than 13,500 required manual evaluation after the digital system failed. Evaluators reported poor scan quality and missing pages.
Congress further alleged that CBSE’s May 2025 tender mandated robotic, high-speed scanners with spine-preserved handling and 300 DPI resolution. The August 2025 revision allegedly diluted this to generic scanners at 200 DPI, with field reports of mobile-phone based scanning by vendor COEMPT EduTek. Three tenders were floated before a vendor was found. The party claims that eligibility rules were changed till COEMPT became eligible, CMMI Level 5 was diluted to Level 3, robotic scanners dropped, blacklisting norms weakened, data centre rules relaxed, and penalties shifted from scan quality to deadlines.
Student ethical hackers later flagged master passwords in public code, weak authentication and unsecured student records. Notably,iInstead of fixes, CBSE allegedly coordinated a scripted defence via schools.
To further expose the disregard of the ruling dispensation toward the education system, the Congress then cited UGC funding cuts and HEFA loans, erosion of university autonomy in VC appointments, FIRs and crackdowns on student protests, NCERT cuts on Mughal history and the Emergency, closure of nearly 90,000 government schools since 2014, massive faculty vacancies, incomplete AIIMS projects, and a drop in education spending from 4.77% under UPA-2 to 2.50% under Modi-3.
“Why was it preferred over TCS, despite a shady track record, and a name change? Why was the CBSE OSM contract handed to COEMPT – a company already mired in controversy under its old name, Globarena? On whose orders was it done? Why were no background checks done? What is the connection between COEMPT’s management and the Modi government?,” the Congress asked.
The statement pointed out that India used to export intelligence to the world. Our IITs and IIMs made global CEOs. But today, the entire world is witnessing how our Govt. cannot even conduct a board exam without corruption and loot, adding that the BJP has put the future of India’s students on hold, leaving institutions weakened, standards compromised, and millions of young paying the price for years of deliberate neglect, propaganda, and extortion.
“After destroying the credibility of exams from NEET and UGC NET to CUET and CBSE, hollowing out UGC funding, shutting schools and pushing India’s education system into chaos, will PM Modi finally fix accountability or continue shielding failure?
Dharmendra Pradhan must resign immediately as Union Education Minister for presiding over one of the biggest institutional failures in India’s education history,” the statement added.
