Rahul Gandhi sharpened his attack on Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday, accusing him of evading accountability over the NEET-UG and CBSE evaluation controversies by resorting to personal criticism rather than answering questions raised by students and parents.
Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said Pradhan’s remarks against him would not weaken demands for transparency in the handling of two high-stakes education disputes that have put the Centre under pressure. The exchange has widened a political confrontation over examination integrity, digital evaluation systems, paper leak allegations and the role of private vendors in public education infrastructure.
“Dharmendra Pradhan ji, you can attack me all you want, but it won’t absolve you of your crimes. Nor will it stop me from demanding answers for 18.5 lakh children,” Gandhi said in a post on X, referring to students affected by concerns around CBSE Class 12 evaluation. He also questioned why a company he described as questionable had been given the On-Screen Marking contract linked to the CBSE process.
Pradhan had earlier accused Gandhi of making baseless allegations and politicising education issues. He said Gandhi was frustrated by electoral setbacks and opposed to technological progress in education. The minister defended digital reforms in assessment, while acknowledging that students’ complaints required action and that corrective measures were being taken.
The dispute centres on complaints from CBSE Class 12 students and parents over scanned answer sheets, alleged mismatches, blurred images, calculation errors and doubts about marks uploaded through the On-Screen Marking system. The system was introduced to digitise assessment and improve transparency, but its rollout has drawn scrutiny after students began sharing discrepancies online and seeking re-evaluation.
CBSE has rejected allegations of manipulation and said the award of the contract followed due procedure under government rules. The board has described Gandhi’s claims as erroneous, misleading and not based on facts. It has also maintained that the evaluation process remains secure and that student grievances are being addressed through established mechanisms.
The controversy gained political traction after Gandhi alleged “massive irregularities” in CBSE evaluation and demanded an independent judicial inquiry, along with a Special Investigation Team probe. He has linked the matter to broader concerns about examination credibility, arguing that students cannot be expected to bear the burden of administrative opacity.
A key part of Gandhi’s attack concerns Coempt Edu Teck, a Hyderabad-based company associated in public debate with digital evaluation infrastructure. Gandhi has questioned the firm’s background and asked whether adequate due diligence was carried out before any role was assigned in the CBSE system. CBSE has denied wrongdoing in the contract process, while the political debate has intensified around procurement, vendor accountability and oversight of digital examination platforms.
The CBSE row comes as the Centre is also facing pressure over NEET-UG 2026 paper leak allegations. Gandhi has repeatedly demanded Pradhan’s removal, alleging that lakhs of medical aspirants have been betrayed by failures in examination security. He has accused the government of failing to protect the credibility of competitive exams that determine access to higher education and professional careers.
The National Testing Agency, which conducts NEET-UG, has come under scrutiny over the handling of the medical entrance examination. Petitions and protests have placed the matter before the courts, with students seeking stronger safeguards, accountability for leaks and reforms in the testing architecture. The controversy has revived questions about whether centralised entrance tests are being managed with sufficient technological, administrative and legal protections.
For Pradhan, the challenge is to defend examination reform while addressing the perception that students’ complaints are being dismissed. His acknowledgement of glitches in the CBSE system marks an attempt to contain public anger, but the opposition has framed the matter as part of a larger pattern of institutional failure in education governance.
The Congress has sought to connect the CBSE evaluation concerns, NEET-UG allegations and earlier examination disputes into a wider narrative of systemic breakdown. The government’s position is that reforms such as digital marking, centralised testing and technology-led monitoring are essential to improve scale, efficiency and transparency, provided implementation gaps are corrected.
