Education

Rahul Gandhi on the Competitive Exam System: An "Extortion Machine"

Thursday, June 18, 2026
5 min read
Rahul Gandhi on the Competitive Exam System: An "Extortion Machine"

Rahul Gandhi used that platform the first stop in this whole series of student conventions to really hammer home something about how messed up the system is. He called it a "rejection system," not a selection one, when talking about all the competitive exams out there.

He was at the “Chhatron Ki Goonj” rally in Kota on Wednesday. Thousands of job seekers and coaching students were there. And Gandhi wasn't just talking politics. He was pointing at how that whole educational framework is systematically crushing the dreams and mental health of the youth. Intense pressure, stress it’s all designed to crush them. It doesn't nurture anything real.

He brought up the money first. That’s where it got really sharp. Middle-class families are being exploited financially. Gandhi pointed out those expenditure estimates. He said families chasing things like the NEET test spend an estimated 1.32 lakh crore a year on coaching, rooms, fees. That number alone is huge. It's almost as much as what the government formally sets aside for education.

It just sounds insane.

He expanded that critique to all five major exams: SSC, UPSC, RRB, JEE, and NEET. Total private spending? Another three and a half lakh crore annually. He called it an "extortion machine." It doesn't guarantee jobs. Especially when you look at the constant drama of delayed recruitment or those paper leaks hanging over everything.

The setup was deliberate, too. They put all these aspirants the ones prepping for medicine, engineering, civil service right in front of him. Asking them to share their real experiences about rising fees and just plain anxiety.

And then there’s the career path thing. Gandhi mentioned how little choice there is. Out of lakhs of young people, almost everyone feels boxed in. They can only think doctor, engineer, lawyer, civil servant, or soldier. No room for anything else. It’s this severe lack of vocational diversity that sticks with you.

This whole spectacle happened just days before the NEET-UG re-examination on June 21st. Things were already boiling over with political tension between the Congress and the ruling party. Ashok Gehlot, the former Rajasthan CM, was pointing fingers at local administration for pulling promotional signs under pressure. But the BJP side spun it completely differently. They called it a disruption. A move meant to distract students right before their crucial tests.

Gandhi insisted that this wasn't about partisan politics. It was strictly about student welfare. He demanded accountability from the National Testing Agency, the NTA. He wanted them to fix the security protocols for exams immediately.

The party’s next steps are already set. After Kota, they plan to roll out these youth conventions across places like Allahabad, Patna, and New Delhi over the coming weeks. The pressure is definitely mounting.

Written by Gree News Team — Senior Editorial Board

Gree News Team covers international news and global affairs at Gree News. Our collective of senior editors is dedicated to providing independent, accurate, and responsible journalism for a global audience.

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