Ill-judged crackdown: Government must engage constructively with protestors

The Delhi student protests underscore growing anger over exam failures, demanding accountability, education reforms, and meaningful government engagement instead of police action

The police crackdown on protesters (mostly students) around central Delhi on July 20, leaving several injured, some seriously, was an ill-judged response to peaceful people raising legitimate demands. They warrant consideration by the government rather than draconian clampdowns, lathicharges, tear gas, internet shutdowns, and the forcible hospitalisation of activist Sonam Wangchuk, who has been on hunger strike for the past 24 days. A meeting between Union Minister J P Nadda and a Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) delegation is unlikely to cut it. Though Mr Nadda is a respected senior government figure, he is minister of health and family welfare. The issues raised by protesters are related to education, including the demand for resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Mr Pradhan has not engaged with students in a meaningful way. Mr Nadda’s hospital visit to enquire about the injured assuaged the anger a tad, indicating that sensitivity works better than state-inflicted violence.

 

The paper leaks ahead of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduates (Neet-UG) and the irregularities in the Onscreen Marking System (OSM) for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class XII results have created unwonted trauma for millions of students taking these two consequential exams.  Although the Neet exams were held without a hitch a month and a half later, those responsible for the paper leaks were arrested, and the problems with the CBSE OSM were sorted individually, there is scant assurance from the government that these problems will not recur. Both fiascos point to deep-rooted systemic problems within the state-controlled public-examination system that govern the lives of young people. More than two million students sit for the Neet-UG and over 1.7 million appear in the CBSE school-leaving exam each year. They are entitled to answers.

 

Leaks of exam papers have been a frequent issue in the past, and the latest one points to a clear nexus between coaching institutes and paper setters. Students whose parents pay lakhs — sometimes representing their life’s savings — for them to attend coaching classes have a right to know how the government proposes to tackle this issue in lasting ways. In the CBSE OSM debacle, it emerged that the system was introduced without adequate training or testing. Notably, on July 15, the Supreme Court advised the government to heed the frustrations of children over the OSM controversy and sought a status report of an investigation by a one-man committee appointed to examine the technical defects.

 

As it is, the dearth of government engagement has enabled a satirical online movement — the CJP — to swell into a consequential protest movement, which has gained national and international attention. At a National Democratic Alliance meeting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke of the need to win the trust of the youth and suggested a national outreach among students on the issue led by members of Parliament. While these initiatives may help, the protests also offer an opportune moment for deeper reforms in the education sector. One emerging issue, for instance, is the increasing centralisation of curricula and exam systems. In a country as large and culturally diverse as India, decentralisation would better align with the needs of citizens who represent India’s future.