At the ChhatronKiGoonj event held in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, Rahul Gandhi shared a pointed post about India's education system and repeated paper leaks on the social media platform X, laying out data on students' effort and the system's failures. At the same event, he met Rajesh Mall, the father of Ria Kumari, a student who died by suicide after a NEET paper leak.
What Rahul Gandhi wrote on X
In his post, Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) wrote that a student spends five years preparing for roughly 10 hours a day at an average cost of ₹9 lakh, calling it the hard work of every student and the sacrifice of their family. He added that over the past 10 years, the country has seen 152 paper leaks, with what amounts to a rate card for seats and jobs, yet zero punishment has followed. According to him, this has ruined the futures of about 7.5 crore young people. He said the corrupt education system needs to be rebuilt from the ground up for the 21st century.
An emotional meeting with a grieving father
During the event, Rajesh Mall came to meet Rahul Gandhi. His daughter, Ria Kumari, is said to have died by suicide after a NEET paper leak. Mall became emotional during the meeting and said that what happened to his daughter should not happen to any other daughter, appealing to Rahul Gandhi to raise the issue in Parliament.
The wider state of India's education system
The event comes against a backdrop of repeated questions over India's education system. According to reports, around 94,000 government schools have shut down across the country over the past 10 years, an average of roughly 25 schools closing every single day, which has also brought down enrolment numbers. Recurring paper leaks combined with this scale of school closures point to deeper structural problems in the system.
Inside the ChhatronKiGoonj event in Dehradun
The Dehradun event drew several students and parents. One student present told Rahul Gandhi that no matter how hard students study, they end up losing to the system if papers keep leaking. Discussions at the event, tied to hashtags like ShikshaRevolution, also raised demands for justice, transparency and equal opportunity for students.
Public reaction
Rahul Gandhi's post and his meeting with the victim's father drew a mixed response on social media. Many users backed the call for justice and a transparent examination system for students, while some others questioned the post, framing it as a political statement.
