On a day meant to honour India's teachers, the Congress chose confrontation over ceremony. The party's top leadership marked National Teachers' Day — the birth anniversary of former President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan — by accusing the Narendra Modi government of leaving behind a "broken education system".
Key facts
- Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge posted a two-minute video on X arguing the education sector had all but collapsed in the past 12 years.
- The video alleged an 80% jump in student suicides, claiming 1.23 lakh students had taken their own lives during this period.
- Mr. Kharge said 94,000 schools had been shut and 2.26 crore children wiped out of enrolment under the Modi government.
- Rahul Gandhi urged teachers to ensure that everyone received equal opportunity.
A two-minute indictment
Mr. Kharge's hard-hitting presentation, posted on social media platform X, cited various news reports and other sources to build its case. Its most harrowing claim: an 80% jump in student suicides under the Modi government, with 1.23 lakh students taking their own lives during this period.
"Modi government has paralysed and systematically gutted education over the last 12 years. The future of an entire generation of India's youth has been recklessly destroyed & sacrificed," Mr. Kharge said in a post on X, along with the video graphics.
The Congress chief said the share of government schools had come down from 71% to 49%, and that four out of every 10 children dropped out by Class 12 or the higher secondary level. The presentation further claimed that nearly 8,000 schools were receiving funding with zero students, that 1.9 lakh schools did not have functional electricity, and that even the premier Indian Institutes of Technology were functioning with 39% vacancies in faculty positions.
Rahul Gandhi's message to teachers
Mr. Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, struck a more hopeful note, urging teachers to ensure that everyone received equal opportunity.
"Today, India's education system poses several serious questions before us. Together, we must build a system where every student has access to equal opportunities, quality education, and a bright future," he said in a post on X.
He also paid tribute to India's second President, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, after whom the day is celebrated, on his birth anniversary.
Tributes to Radhakrishnan
In a separate post, the Congress chief hailed Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan as an "eminent philosopher, teacher and statesman whose wisdom remains timeless and forever inspiring".
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh remembered the famed scholar as a "renowned philosopher, brilliant writer, mesmerising speaker, an impactful diplomat for a short while in the USSR, and a man deeply devoted to the cause of education and institution building".
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