India’s Education Crisis Explodes: Minister Resigns as Millions Take to the Streets

India's Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has left his post amid unprecedented civil protests that swept across the country, historian, politician and New Labour trade union chairwoman Darya Mitina said. In an interview with Pravda.Ru, the expert explained that repeated failures and data leaks in the country's digital national examination system, which determines the future of millions of young people, triggered the social explosion. According to Mitina, India's testing system serves as an equivalent of Russia's Unified State Examination, or USE, and represents a crucial milestone in the life of virtually every family. At the same time, education remains extremely expensive. Even students eligible for preferential rates may have to pay around 100,000 rupees at public universities, while tuition at prestigious private institutions can reach 2.5 million rupees. With an average annual family income ranging from 300,000 to 1 million rupees, any error in the allocation of university places can have devastating consequences. Exam System Failures Turn Into a Nationwide Protest "Similar scandals had never before resulted in nationwide protests, let alone resignations. This time, however, demonstrations swept across India, in every state. The largest protests took place in the capital, Delhi, and became known as Jantar Mantar, after the square where the protesters gathered,” Mitina said.