AISA President Critiques Government's Handling of Exam Paper Leaks

The National President of the All India Students Association (AISA), Neha Bora, launched a fierce critique against the central government on Tuesday regarding the recurring incidents of paper leaks in competitive examinations. She labeled the existing laws aimed at preventing such leaks as "ineffective" and stated that these regulations have failed to address the systemic flaws. Speaking at a press conference in Patna, Bora emphasized the need to either dismantle the National Testing Agency (NTA) or implement significant legal reforms within its framework to ensure accountability at the highest administrative levels. She also expressed her disapproval of the National Education Policy (NEP), which has centralized university, medical, and engineering entrance exams across the country, claiming that this has heightened the risk of paper leaks.

Bora asserted that if there is a genuine need to resolve this issue, the first step should be to eliminate agencies like the NTA. She pointed out that the NEP has centralized and organized entrance exams nationwide, whether for medical, engineering, or various universities. To effectively prevent paper leaks, she argued that the NTA, which operates in a completely opaque manner, should either be abolished or transformed into a statutory body through an act of Parliament to ensure accountability. She criticized the lack of action on these fronts, stating that a simplistic approach has been adopted, akin to attempting to stop the entire paper leak system with a weak law.

The AISA President highlighted that merely increasing penalties—such as extending prison sentences from three to five years or raising fines from one crore to five crores—serves as a superficial remedy rather than a solid, structural solution. She remarked, "We refer to this as an ineffective law because the changes made are merely quantitative. The sentence has been increased from three years to five years; the fine has been raised from one crore to five crores. It seems that merely intensifying the severity of punishment will automatically halt paper leaks." Bora criticized the central government, suggesting that these measures are merely a facade to demonstrate that they are taking strict actions against examination irregularities, while in reality, they have little impact on the ground. She noted, "We understand that this effort by the government is essentially a way to appear active without making any real changes, ensuring that the entire network of paper leaks remains unaffected." Notably, Bora had participated in a 23-day hunger strike alongside activist Sonam Wangchuk during a significant student protest that lasted 37 days at Jantar Mantar, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.