Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, addressing a student interaction programme titled 'Students' Echo' (Chhatron Ki Goonj) in Kota — a city known as the 'coaching hub' — on Wednesday, raised serious questions about the relevance of India's education system. He said it crushes and suffocates children, which is not right for the country, and strongly emphasised the need to change it.
He said, "India's education system puts immense pressure on its children. It gives them stress. It crushes and suffocates them, which is absolutely not right for the future of the country." He added, "I want all of us to fight together against this so that no child ever has to take a suicidal step in the future."
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi clarified that the purpose of his dialogue with students and youth was not political. He said, "This is not a political meeting. We will discuss India's education system — what its shortcomings are and what reforms are needed."
He further stated, "This meeting is about you, about those youth who are struggling to build their future. This evening is about you and the challenges you face every day."The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha invited five students preparing for various competitive examinations onto the stage and interacted with them. He also spoke with a girl student and her parents.
He said, "We are not talking politics right now. I am talking about the future of India, your future, and the future of the country. We have to change this (education) system and fix it."
He said that we want an education system that gives every Indian the opportunity to dream big and helps them fulfil those dreams. Most importantly, this should happen at minimal cost, without extracting lakhs of crores of rupees from your pockets.
He remarked, "India's education system extracts as much money from the country's poorest middle-class families for one examination as the entire education budget of the country, and for five major examinations, it extracts as much money as the budgets of five major ministries. This is shameful. We have to change it."
Rahul Gandhi said, "India's education system is an extortion machine. It is a system designed to take money from you. It is not just a system for providing education. It is a system for snatching away lakhs of crores of rupees from you based on examinations."
The Congress leader said that this programme is the beginning of a movement. He appealed to the youth to join it and give their suggestions on how this system can be changed.
