Students demand dissolution of NTA

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, August 9

Hundreds of students, led by members of the All-India Students’ Association (AISA) and Disha Students Organisation, gathered at Jantar Mantar here on Friday to protest against the National Testing Agency (NTA). The protesters accused the NTA of corruption and demanded its dissolution, citing allegations of paper leaks and the selling of seats in exams like NEET-UG.

Dhananjay, president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union, alleged that the NTA was responsible for “the biggest scam in the history of education”.

“The NTA was created to institutionalise paper leaks and corruption,” Dhananjay asserted, calling for stricter regulation of private coaching mafias.

“A corrupt organisation like the NTA must be dismantled,” he added. The protest also saw the participation of around 100 students from Uttar Pradesh under the banner of Disha Students’ Organisation.

The demonstration, which also involved the detention of several protesters, was part of a larger movement led by AISA, which called for a Parliament march on August 9. The AISA demands accountability from the NDA government for recent “corruption scandals in exams like NEET and NET” and has called for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

Prof Moushumi Basu criticised the NTA’s takeover of the admissions process from government bodies. She pointed to former JNU Vice-Chancellor Jagdish Kumar Mamidala’s role in pushing JNU to associate with the NTA, which she described as a “suspicious” decision.

Raja Ram Singh, MP from Karakat also joined the protest and expressed his concerns about the NTA’s influence on higher education, assuring students, “We have been constantly raising the issues of students, especially with respect to the entirely corrupt NTA in Parliament, and we will continue to be your voice.”

Prof Uma Raag, representing the teaching faculty, pledged support for the students’ fight against the NTA, stating, “We, the students and teachers of this country, shall see this government’s nefarious designs fail.”