Jairam Ramesh accuses Centre of politicising and weakening education system

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday launched a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi government, alleging that the country’s education system had become “incompetent, politicised and corrupt” under the Centre’s administration and accusing it of presiding over repeated institutional failures and controversies.

In a post on social media platform X, Ramesh said the government’s academic and educational ecosystem had steadily deteriorated over the past few years, claiming that academic standards and constitutional norms were being undermined while key concerns affecting students and universities remained unaddressed.

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“The Modi Government’s education ecosystem — populated by third-rate academic mediocrities — has proven itself to be supremely incompetent, politicised, and corrupt over the last few years,” the senior Congress leader said.

Ramesh cited a series of recent controversies to support his criticism, including the NCERT textbook revision dispute, the University Grants Commission’s draft regulations concerning the appointment of Vice Chancellors, repeated examination paper leaks, the alleged NAAC bribery scandal and what he described as the “ICHR scam.”

He also criticised the withholding of Samagra Shiksha funds and raised concerns over vacancies in teaching positions as well as the appointment of what he termed “absentee Vice Chancellors” in several Central universities.

The Congress leader further targeted the Union Education Minister over his reported remarks on recommendations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education regarding the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA).

According to Ramesh, the minister had dismissed the committee’s observations on the grounds that opposition members were part of the panel. Calling the remarks “arrogant,” he argued that the committee itself had a BJP majority and reflected Parliament’s bipartisan functioning.

“The fact is that of the 30 Members of Parliament, 17 are from the BJP itself,” Ramesh said. “The Minister’s refusal to acknowledge the Parliamentary Standing Committee is a dismissal of his own party’s MPs and the Indian Parliament’s bipartisan traditions.”

The Congress has repeatedly attacked the functioning of the NTA following allegations of irregularities and paper leaks in major competitive examinations, including NEET-UG, which sparked protests and demands for accountability across the country.

Opposition parties have accused the Centre of failing to protect the integrity of public examinations, while the government has maintained that corrective measures are being implemented to strengthen the system.

In his remarks, Ramesh also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s annual “Pariksha Pe Charcha” interaction programme with students, saying the country instead required a deeper review of the examination system.

“The PM takes great pride and gives great publicity to his annual Pariksha pe Charcha extravaganza. What is the need of the hour is a Pariksha ki Samiksha,” he said, adding that the Education Minister “doesn’t appear to be cut out for the task.”