Kota, June 17: Thousands of students today joined the first congregation of the ‘Chhatron ki Goonj’ (Echo of the Students) addressed by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi here today.

In an hour-long interactive session with the aspirants of various competitive exams and their family members, Rahul Gandhi said that India’s education system was an extortion machine. He said, it is shameful and must be changed, while appealing to the students to join the movement to change it.

Gandhi made it categorically clear that today’s congregation was absolutely apolitical and was aimed at addressing the concerns and apprehensions of the aspirants of various competitive exams like the NEET, the JEE, the UPSC etc.

Besides, he noted that the education system was not even employment oriented. Citing the data, he said, only just  1.2 percent can get a salaried job in India right now. And this, he pointed out, is after the students and their families spend a fortune on their studies.

Identifying various other shortcomings of the education system, he said, it was not designed to make the students realise their dreams. He said, it does not address or satisfy their options and ambitions if they want to opt for something different from the traditional jobs like those of engineering, medicine, the IAS/IPS, legal profession or the defence services.

Elaborating further as to how exploitative and extortionist the system was, Gandhi pointed out, 22 lakh students take the NEET exam and their families spend Rs 1.32 lakh crores for this. He revealed that this amount equals the entire budget of the education ministry of the government of India.

Elaborating further, he said, the cumulative fees paid by the students for the NEET, the SSC, the RRB, UPSC and JEE exam comes to about Rs 3.5 lakh crores, which is the total budget of five ministries including Education, Health, Labour, Science and Technology and Child and Women Welfare.

He further said that the entire education system from the schools to the college is exploitative, pointing out how the public sector education system has been completely destroyed and replaced with the private sector education. He said, the fee is exorbitant in the private schools and despite such huge fee, students are made to take tuitions, then to private colleges and then to coaching centres. He said, even all this does not guarantee an assured salaried job.

Gandhi during his speech referred to the tragic suicide of Akanksha, who was a NEET aspirant but had committed suicide after the paper leak. He said, there must not be any more students like her who are pushed by the system to commit suicide.

He said, it was not Akanksha’s failure, but the system that failed her. “Indian education system is a rejection system not a selection system”, he remarked while pointing out the heavy and tough odds against which the students have to compete for limited seats and limited positions.

Asserting that the youth are the future of the country, Gandhi said, “India succeeds if you succeed. India has a duty to protect every young Indian and every single student”.

Referring to the harsh reality of the employment situation prevailing in the country, he said, out of 100 engineers currently in India, 80 are unemployed.

Making a passionate and fervent appeal to change the system, he said, “we need to change this system. And repair it and bring in a system that allows you to dream big and realise that dream”.

“Most important is that your dream should be realised at the lowest cost without you being extorted of lakhs of crores of rupees”, he said, while appealing to the students and the youth to come forward with their suggestions and opinions.

Thousands of enthusiastic students joined the congregation and raised slogans hailing Rahul Gandhi. He appealed to them not to raise any slogans as he had come for interaction only and to listen to them and explain how he felt about changing the education system prevailing in the country.