Thousands of student protesters have flooded onto the streets of New Delhi to call for the resignation of India’s education minister, in one of the largest youth-led protests that the country has experienced in decades.
Protesters are demanding greater accountability and transparency in the education system following a major scandal involving entrance exams to medical schools.
Hundreds of police officers and security were deployed across the capital as protesters marched towards parliament buildings and chanted for education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, to step down.
The march, which began early in the morning on 20 July, followed weeks of demonstrations at one of Delhi’s prominent protest sites where students and political activists had been camping overnight. The protests were organised by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), a new youth-led political movement founded in mid-May after a leaked medical entrance exam led to millions of students having to retake the test.
The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), India’s nationwide entrance exam for medical colleges, was sat by more than two million students on 3 May at over 5,000 centres across India. However, the exam was scrapped after it emerged that the questions had been leaked.
