GUEST COLUMN: India’s drowning education system — students continue bearing the burden of the system’s repeated failures-Sazia

GUEST COLUMN: India’s drowning education system — students continue bearing the burden of the system’s repeated failures-Sazia

Sazia Jindal/ royalpatiala.in News/ May 26,2026

For years, students have been told that education builds their future and gives them success but every other year new controversies expose cracks in our education system. Yet after the outrage fades, exhausted students are expected to abruptly return to the same system and continue as if nothing happened!

This year i.e 2026, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) exams brought back the same excruciating memories of 2024. The fact that question papers were being leaked and sold says greatly about the credibility of the system. Was it this complicated for the National Testing Agency (NTA) to ensure the safety of it’s question papers? Isn’t this incident shameful for the country’s reputation worldwide?

For non-NEET students, a re-examination might feel fair but the reality is completely opposite! For once, just think about a student who cleared this exam with all the hard work and she/he suddenly hears news about re-examination! Years of effort and sacrifice gone in vain just because of the poor system! For once, think about those who were finally relaxed and the ones who had finally thrown away their books, what will they go through? Who is responsible for their mental health? We all know that walking out of exam hall after giving the last exam is an impeccable feeling but what now? Also, many students give exam because of parental pressure and now that they were finally done with it, they will have to repeat it!

India is filled with such incidents. Look at this year’s CBSE results! The passing percentage was fallen by 3.19% and students scored extremely less just because of the on-screen marking system! Is our country developing? In reality, it is underdeveloped in its educational infrastructure! And even the scanned copies that students received were blurry, upside down and even some students have not got their original answer sheets! Is this the fairness of the system?

Even under National Education Policy (NEP), colleges affiliated with Punjabi University make their humanities students study 9-9 subjects. Wasn’t NEP introduced to lower burden and increase skills in students? But it is clearly doing the opposite. A student studying 9 subjects wouldn’t get any time to learn real life skills! Either they will have to compromise with their marks or with their skills because doing both becomes exhausting! Are students being educated or are they simply being trained to survive pressure?

Overall, this NEET 2024 controversy, NEET 2026 controversy, CBSE Board Results 2026, pressure created by NEP, JEE Main result controversy 2024, Karnataka CET rank controversy, Bihar teacher recruitment exam paper leak, UGC-NET 2024 cancellation controversy and this endless list says immensely about the Indian education system! How many more controversies, exhausted students, and broken trusts will it take for the poor system to change? If students are expected to give their best to the system then does the system not owe them correctness, accountability, transparency and mental peace in return?

Note: The views expressed by the author, writer are personal. Sazia Jindal is a B.A-l student of Multani Mal Modi College,Patiala.