restoring trust

India heaved a great sigh of relief on the evening of 21 June 2026 as the media splashed reports of the successful conduct of the rescheduled NEET-2026 exam. Its earlier cancellation on account of the paper leak had cast a pall of gloom not only on young aspirants and their families but throughout the nation. It cast serious aspersions on our examination management systems, institutions, and the expertise generated over several decades. The community of teachers felt greatly let down as details of the modus operandi used by the mafia and anti-social elements emerged. The needle of suspicion moved swiftly to the paper setters, to teachers, academics and educators — and the coaching centres were, as ever, the usual suspects. The Union Education Minister has called it a great betrayal, and one fully endorses his assessment. When a paper-setter stoops to leaking the paper, becoming a shameful part of the mafia corrupting the education and examination system, the nation must be alerted, and ponder over the inadequacies in preparing and recruiting its teachers at every stage. The system, in spite of its vast magnitude, just cannot afford even a single teacher bereft of moral and ethical conduct.

A betrayal of trust — and the teacher's place in it

Consequently, India must seriously audit its systems of teacher preparation, recruitment, and the procedures for ascertaining continuous academic advancement and professional growth, along with the critical contours of personality development. Teachers are supposed to nurture moral, ethical and humanistic values in their wards. They are supposed to scrupulously adhere to an exemplary work culture which is quietly internalised by their students. Every teacher is a partner in preparing the future of India — the role model with whom the child first interacts as it transitions to school. Others come only at a later stage.

The CBSE evaluation shock

As the nation was slowly coming out of the anguish inflicted by the postponement of NEET, the CBSE announced its Class XII results, creating an unprecedented situation of gloom and despair. For the first time, the CBSE opted for the digital marking system popularly known as OSM (On-Screen Marking). It chose Class XII for it — a stage that determines the individual-specific future course of studies a learner will pursue. The CBSE claims to have taken all necessary steps to prepare its own system and train its evaluators. Technical glitches, and probably deficiencies, on the part of the outsourced agency let down the CBSE. The suffering inflicted on enthusiastic yet highly sensitive young people disrupted their future plans in numerous instances, as the results they received were far below their expectations.

One expects the CBSE would be better equipped with technical expertise and conduct all of its future exams successfully. When even a single young person commits suicide, due to the inefficiency and greed of others, the entire nation needs to take note of the factors responsible for it. Responsibility must be fixed and stern actions taken wherever necessary. Unfortunately, that has not been the case in the past — the guilty are not behind bars.

The Lucknow wake-up call

As if the two exam fiascos were not enough of a wake-up call, the Lucknow coaching-centre fire that snatched away fifteen young lives comes as a thundering one. The Uttar Pradesh Government responded swiftly — 18 engineers booked, four more arrested, coaching centres inspected across the state. It is well established that every fire tragedy is invariably a consequence of total neglect of fire-safety norms, with classes conducted in structures that brutally ignore building norms. One wonders why these basic essentials are not checked at regular intervals. Extraordinary arrangements were made to ensure proper conduct of the NEET re-examination on 21 June; there were no reports of impersonators or solvers even attempting to trespass.

The planning worked, and the successful conduct brought a sigh of relief. One fervently hopes the systems will gear themselves afresh, and that in the coming years no young individual shall encounter situations that plunge them into continuous anxiety, uncertainty, fear and underperformance. Every human being is touched to the core by a teenager's suicide note: "I just can't bear the tension already undergone once again." One's heart goes out to the bereaved families; every sensitive soul mourns with them.

Whose responsibility is it?

This does not include the mafia, nor the parents who encourage the purchase of 'leaked papers', spend vulgar amounts, and commit the sin of throwing millions of other young people and their families into immeasurable agony.

When even a single suicide takes place as a consequence of the anti-social and immoral machinations of rogue elements, the entire nation must stand up to ensure it is not repeated. In a humane world, everyone who believes in "Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah" has a role to perform. The social system must take serious note and expose the culprits who damage lives, kill young aspirations, and commit heinous social sacrilege.

Apart from placing all our expectations of strict action against the mafia solely on government — which have been mostly inadequate, lethargic and inefficient — the time has come for institutions, teachers, academics, and non-political social activists to accept their own role in bringing back the moral order in the world of education.

Restoring the moral order

It is common knowledge that when a child in the family prepares for examinations like CBSE, NEET or JEE, it is the entire family that gears up to assist and inspire; no disturbance or distraction is permitted. Think of the anxiety and hope of the parents of a brilliant child, educated in a government school, from a family with scant earnings — how life-transforming success in such examinations can be.

The challenge before the nation is to restore the reputation of its school and higher-education organisations for competence and capability to maintain the purity of examinations and assessment at each stage. Uncertainty, anxiety and tension must not be permitted to retard the enthusiasm and self-confidence of even a single child getting ready to compete. The community of teachers must come forward as one unit to keep the miscreants out.

The NEP-2020 has prominently assured the nation that "the teacher shall be at the centre of the fundamental reforms in the education system", and commits to making teachers "the most respected and essential members of our society". Teachers must feel empowered and enabled to perform their duty effectively. The present position of teachers is well known to the system and society; it would require Herculean efforts to bring it to the level indicated above. There is no escape but to strive hard — the system has to be reformed and transformed effectively.