Stand with India’s Students. Defend the Right to Fair and Equal Education

Solidarity Statement from the International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) Asia Secretariat

The International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) Asia Secretariat expresses its unwavering solidarity with the students, parents, teachers, and all democratic forces across India who are protesting the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) examination paper leaks. This highly competitive exam for over two million medical aspirants has been systematically leaked as a lucrative black-market commodity, allowing wealth and corruption to buy futures that should be earned through merit. We stand in particular with the students and people courageously continuing their hunger strike in the pursuit of justice.

The NEET paper leak is not merely an examination scandal. It is another manifestation of a system that repeatedly fails millions of young people while protecting privilege and wealth. Every year, millions of students, most of them from working-class, peasant, lower-middle-class, and marginalized families, dedicate years of hard work in the hope that education will provide a path to a dignified future. Their parents make immense sacrifices believing that merit, not money or influence, should determine opportunity.

When examination systems are compromised by corruption and organised malpractice, it is these students who pay the price. Their futures are put at risk while those with wealth and power continue to benefit from an unequal system. These repeated failures expose an education system increasingly shaped by inequality, commercialisation, and impunity.

The students’ movement is therefore about much more than one examination. It is a demand for transparency, accountability, and an education system that guarantees equal opportunities for all. We call upon the authorities to ensure an independent investigation, hold those responsible accountable, protect the rights of protesting students, and undertake structural reforms that restore public trust in public examinations.

The struggle of India’s students is part of a larger struggle for social justice. Across Asia, young people have always stood at the forefront of movements for equality and democracy. Their courage deserves the support of all progressive and democratic forces.

Education, and the guarantee of free, fair, and equal opportunities, gives every child the courage to dream. Those dreams are the foundation of a more just, equitable, and humane society.

In solidarity,

International Peoples’ Assembly (IPA) Asia Secretariat