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Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation as Union education minister following months of protests over the NEET paper leak marks a rare moment of political accountability in contemporary India. Yet, reducing the episode to the resignation of a minister risks missing the larger story. The crisis did not begin with a leaked question paper, nor will it end with a change of guard at Kartavya Bhavan.

The NEET controversy exposes a deeper structural flaw in India’s education system: the relentless centralisation of power at the expense of states, institutions and public trust. When a single examination conducted by a single central agency determines the futures of nearly two million students, every administrative lapse becomes a national catastrophe. The paper leak was not an aberration. It was the inevitable outcome of a governance model that mistakes uniformity for fairness and centralisation for efficiency.

Education as the great equaliser

Few ideas have shaped modern India as profoundly as the belief that education is the most powerful instrument of social transformation.

For Mahatma Gandhi, education was not merely about acquiring literacy or passing examinations. It was about developing the complete individual; intellectually, morally and socially and creating citizens capable of participating in a democratic society. Dr B.R. Ambedkar viewed education through another equally transformative lens. For those historically denied dignity and opportunity, education was the pathway to liberty. “Educate, Agitate, Organise” was not simply a slogan; it was a political philosophy rooted in the belief that knowledge could dismantle entrenched hierarchies.

This explains why Ambedkar’s portrait became one of the defining images during the nationwide student protests against the NEET fiasco. It was not merely symbolic. Students were asserting that when the credibility of educational institutions collapses, what is endangered is not only an examination but also the promise of social mobility itself.

In India, competitive examinations are unlike those in most developed societies. For millions of first-generation learners, children of agricultural labourers, daily wage workers and lower-middle-class families, they represent the only credible route out of inherited poverty. Every examination is therefore a test not just of merit, but of hope.

When such examinations become compromised, the damage extends far beyond admissions. It erodes faith in the very idea that talent and hard work can overcome social disadvantage.

The false promise of one nation, one examination

The logic behind NEET appeared persuasive when it was introduced. A common national examination would eliminate multiple entrance tests, reduce corruption in admissions and........

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